Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 538,699 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,579 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for 7.5% of Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. owned about 0.26% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $42,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 buying an additional 490,389 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,063,000 after buying an additional 381,893 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $123,987,000 after buying an additional 344,409 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF traded down $1.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.52. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,070,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,662,628. The company has a market capitalization of $13.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99 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. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $75.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.00.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.44%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.