Truist Financial Corp Decreases Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Truist Financial Corp lessened its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 55,729 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 28.5% in the second quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 6,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,403 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 29,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,605,000 after purchasing an additional 3,861 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 15.1% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $179,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 24,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,328,000 after purchasing an additional 2,686 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $60.12 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $61.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.43 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $72.92.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS 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 $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on 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. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.71.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.