Private Capital Management LLC Has $35.82 Million Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Private Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 582,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 189,100 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 7.2% of Private Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Private Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $35,824,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the third 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 last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $3,337,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $74.56 and its 200 day moving average is $69.29. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $40.72 and a one year high of $82.68.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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

JEF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

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.