Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 212,360 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp trimmed its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 10.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,727,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 212,360 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.84% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $135,474,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth $3,337,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $66.17 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.37. 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 firm has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.42%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.