Vanguard Group Inc. Sells 77,399 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Vanguard Group Inc. lessened its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,875,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 77,399 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 7.21% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $973,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% during the second quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Zacks Research lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $53.32 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.75 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.95. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The company had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.54%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.