M&T Bank Corp Sells 5,110 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

M&T Bank Corp lowered its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 41,708 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,110 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,270,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Atria Investments Inc bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $250,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 64.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 147,404 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $11,556,000 after acquiring an additional 57,799 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.4% during the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sage Rhino Capital LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $226,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $56.24 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $72.47 and a 200-day moving average of $69.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.87 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.72 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was 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.

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