Handelsbanken Fonder AB Sells 10,400 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 43,003 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,400 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,371,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,905,000 after purchasing an additional 490,389 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after purchasing an additional 381,893 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $65.52 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $75.59 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.21. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.72 and a 52 week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

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.