Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Sold by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 8.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 173,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,976 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $11,338,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at $69,000. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 28.7% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 1,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.6%

JEF opened at $62.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $78.21. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $59.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $59.44. The firm has a market cap of $12.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07 and a beta of 1.51.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.54%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.