Retirement Systems of Alabama Raises Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 496,392 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.24% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $38,917,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:JEF opened at $75.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.27 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.58 and a one year high of $82.68. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during 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 last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JEF. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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.