Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 83,894 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans cut its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 66.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 83,894 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% in the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on JEF. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $60.00 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $74.74. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $61.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.