Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Sold by Bank of New York Mellon Corp

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,588,023 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 115,323 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $86,849,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,990,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,374,000 after purchasing an additional 578,013 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,808,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,723,000 after buying an additional 819,594 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,627,000 after buying an additional 1,184,822 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $58,972,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $54.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.70 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $56.41.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.98%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.