Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky cut its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,535 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,690 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,962,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 4.3 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $43.36 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $55.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.32. The stock has a market cap of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.55 and a beta of 1.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

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.