OLD National Bancorp IN Lowers Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

OLD National Bancorp IN lessened its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 68.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,208 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,128 shares during the period. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $615,000 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 JEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1,093.0% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 1,829,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $67,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676,549 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 100.4% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,290,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $47,282,000 after purchasing an additional 646,666 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 80.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,265,002 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,337,000 after purchasing an additional 562,810 shares during the last quarter. Strs Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1,126.9% during the 4th quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 587,412 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,737,000 after purchasing an additional 539,534 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $17,037,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.33.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

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

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $44.58 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.81 and a 52 week high of $47.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.45 billion, a PE ratio of 36.54 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $43.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.21.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 98.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.