Amalgamated Bank Has $6.18 Million Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Amalgamated Bank decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,828 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 182 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $6,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the third 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 last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the third 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 last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the third 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. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,028,000 after buying an additional 47,141 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.5 %

JEF opened at $65.80 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $74.77 and a 200-day moving average of $69.32. The company has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. 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 business posted $0.30 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.43%. 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.