New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Cuts Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 10.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,119 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,881 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,597,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after purchasing an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,394,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,353,000 after purchasing an additional 118,886 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $71.45 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $68.62. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.67 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $14.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98 and a beta of 1.34.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.98%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.