Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Trims Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY decreased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 94.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 28,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 493,686 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,773,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Nvwm LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. First Horizon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Finally, Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 248.8% during the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $47.52 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.52. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $44.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $53.74.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. Analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.