Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Sold by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,734,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 140,786 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 0.07% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $913,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.8% during the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 10,546 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $690,000 after buying an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 34.7% during the third quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,034,000 after buying an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after buying an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $49.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.