Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF – Get Rating) shares were down 4.2% during mid-day trading on Friday after Oppenheimer lowered their price target on the stock from $48.00 to $42.00. The company traded as low as $28.34 and last traded at $28.63. Approximately 202,263 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,620,404 shares. The stock had previously closed at $29.88.
A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on JEF. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Saturday, March 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $40.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $38.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.75.
Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group
Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% during the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,482,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,163,000 after purchasing an additional 233,844 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 44.6% in the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,152,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,972,000 after acquiring an additional 2,207,065 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.9% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,753,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,997,000 after acquiring an additional 52,336 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,337,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,708,000 after acquiring an additional 146,306 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,113,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,012,000 after acquiring an additional 325,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.04% of the company’s stock.
Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 4.6 %
The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.15 and its two-hundred day moving average is $35.34. The stock has a market cap of $6.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 9.86 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.
Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, January 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.57. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 8.34%. The firm’s revenue was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.36 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 13th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.60%.
Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile
Jefferies Financial Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. The Investment Banking and Capital Markets segment provides investment banking, capital markets, and other related services.