Retirement Systems of Alabama Decreases Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lessened its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 498,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,832 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.24% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $20,138,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PGGM Investments increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 46,444 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 1,462 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $71,000. AM Investment Strategies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $409,000. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $454,000. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC now owns 33,907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 4,549 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on JEF. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.33.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $43.70 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.18 and a 200-day simple moving average of $39.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $9.27 billion, a PE ratio of 35.82 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.81 and a 12 month high of $47.39.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.36%.

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.