HighTower Advisors LLC Lowers Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 63.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 63,995 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Eminence Capital LP grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 129.7% in the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,358,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $219,717,000 after acquiring an additional 1,896,547 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 2,644.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 839,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $52,037,000 after purchasing an additional 809,115 shares in the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $49,783,000. Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $32,395,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 245.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 651,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,603,000 after purchasing an additional 462,546 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group decreased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $52.77 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $71.04. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.01.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.