Federated Hermes Inc. Has $951,000 Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,522 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 714 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $951,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 2,573 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $149,000. Finally, Signaturefd LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.9% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $189,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. StockNews.com raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $43.22 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.81 and a 12 month high of $47.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.