Fisher Asset Management LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 4.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 327,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,574 shares during the quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.15% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $13,232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,272,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $132,231,000 after acquiring an additional 510,125 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 46,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. AM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $409,000. Finally, Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $454,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $44.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.81 and a 12 month high of $47.39. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.37 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.67. The company has a market cap of $9.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.77 and a beta of 1.36.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.67%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 98.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.00.

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.