Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Sells 83,894 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans reduced its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 66.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 42,121 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 83,894 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% in the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of JEF opened at $60.00 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $74.74. The firm has a market cap of $12.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20 and a beta of 1.50. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 56.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on JEF shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.71.

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.