Bank of New York Mellon Corp Has $135.47 Million Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp decreased its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,727,982 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 212,360 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $135,474,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $286,476,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after purchasing an additional 167,270 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,028,000 after purchasing an additional 47,141 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $66.17 on Friday. 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 50-day simple moving average is $74.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.37. The company has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.72 and a 52-week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. 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 Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

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.