PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $3.16 Million Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,090 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,405,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,046,000 after buying an additional 51,633 shares in the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 18.5% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,272,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,231,000 after buying an additional 510,125 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 76.9% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,236,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,802,000 after buying an additional 1,406,920 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $88,852,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 19.2% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,507,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $60,929,000 after buying an additional 242,769 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total value of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $46.50 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $44.76 and a 200-day moving average price of $42.39. The company has a market cap of $9.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.11 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $31.12 and a fifty-two week high of $47.87.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.33.

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.