Boston Partners Reduces Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Boston Partners reduced its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 17.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 235,066 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 48,646 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 0.11% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $10,366,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,405,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,046,000 after purchasing an additional 51,633 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 76.9% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,236,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,802,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406,920 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,419,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 92.2% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 376,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,608,000 after acquiring an additional 180,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $1,638,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 3.9 %

NYSE:JEF traded down $2.22 on Friday, hitting $54.22. 1,767,037 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,531,775. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $49.96 and a 200-day moving average of $45.43. The stock has a market cap of $11.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.96 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.38 and a fifty-two week high of $59.30.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.30%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.