Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Purchases New Position in OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE:OUT)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in OUTFRONT Media Inc. (NYSE:OUT) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 34,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in OUT. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 43.0% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 501,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,218,000 after buying an additional 150,669 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 56.4% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 11,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 4,186 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 47.9% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 6,198 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after buying an additional 2,006 shares in the last quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Deroy & Devereaux Private Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 211,099 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,745,000 after buying an additional 4,384 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Journey Strategic Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of OUTFRONT Media by 10.6% in the fourth quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 11,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares in the last quarter.

OUTFRONT Media Stock Up 1.7%

Shares of OUT opened at $16.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.00, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.65. OUTFRONT Media Inc. has a one year low of $12.95 and a one year high of $19.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.81, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.84. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $15.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $17.37.

OUTFRONT Media (NYSE:OUT) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $390.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $396.17 million. OUTFRONT Media had a net margin of 13.30% and a return on equity of 40.33%. Equities research analysts forecast that OUTFRONT Media Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OUTFRONT Media Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. OUTFRONT Media’s payout ratio is currently 78.95%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on OUT shares. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $21.00 price objective on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut OUTFRONT Media from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. Citigroup reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $19.00 price target (up from $17.00) on shares of OUTFRONT Media in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on OUTFRONT Media from $20.00 to $19.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on OUTFRONT Media from $18.00 to $17.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $18.23.

About OUTFRONT Media

OUTFRONT Media, Inc leases advertising space on out-of-home advertising structures and sites. Its inventory consists of billboard displays, which are primarily located on the most heavily traveled highways & roadways, and transit advertising displays operated under exclusive multi-year contracts with municipalities in large cities across the U.S.