Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 12,169 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 496,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,169 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.24% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $30,541,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 15.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,049,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,799,000 after purchasing an additional 936,424 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,232,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $210,591,000 after buying an additional 76,327 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $168,998,000 after buying an additional 389,385 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in 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 during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total transaction of $28,391,461.49. Following the transaction, the president now owns 560,507 shares in the company, valued at $40,451,790.19. The trade was a 41.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on JEF shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group began coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company. Finally, 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.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE JEF opened at $80.90 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.95 and a fifty-two week high of $81.92. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a PE ratio of 34.57 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.83%.

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.