Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.

Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. lessened its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 44.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,101 shares during the quarter. Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $204,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wexford Capital LP acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $211,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 432,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,884,000 after purchasing an additional 151,400 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 655,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,403,000 after purchasing an additional 57,964 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 392.1% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 20,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 16,070 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,595 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $595,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 4.7%

JEF stock opened at $48.29 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $49.69 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.20 and a beta of 1.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

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.