Boston Common Asset Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Boston Common Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 25.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 119,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 40,484 shares during the period. Boston Common Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $9,354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,218 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after acquiring an additional 490,389 shares during the period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,998,000 after acquiring an additional 389,385 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total value of $16,125,655.20. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares in the company, valued at $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. This trade represents a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151 over the last three months. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $75.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a PE ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $38.77 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.44 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $65.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

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.