Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Bfsg LLC

Bfsg LLC lowered its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,394 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 161.4% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 346.6% during the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 758.1% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 738 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of JEF opened at $52.74 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.25 and a beta of 1.45. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $48.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $61.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The company’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.