Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Has $6.27 Million Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lessened its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 17.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 80,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,000 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $6,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $41.61 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.29. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.