Hosking Partners LLP Decreases Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Hosking Partners LLP trimmed its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 693,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 85,818 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group makes up 2.1% of Hosking Partners LLP’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Hosking Partners LLP’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $54,340,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the period. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $3,337,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $64.89 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.29. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.47%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.