Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $487.18 Million Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lessened its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,165,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 345,092 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 0.8% of Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC owned about 3.00% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $487,180,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd 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 grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after buying an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,394,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,353,000 after acquiring an additional 118,886 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $71.90 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.41. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.86 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 1.34. 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) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.