Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Sells 12,313 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,761,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,313 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $109,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eminence Capital LP raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 129.7% during the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,358,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,717,000 after buying an additional 1,896,547 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,390,000 after buying an additional 24,171 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $145,584,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.6% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,115,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,399,000 after buying an additional 32,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% during the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,777,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,262,000 after buying an additional 88,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 3.9%

NYSE JEF opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a fifty day moving average of $48.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $52.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 quarterly revenue was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.57 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $60.63.

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.