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

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,761,888 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,313 shares during the quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.85% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $109,184,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Rothschild Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $299,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 18.2% in the fourth quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 720 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $145,584,000. Rothschild Investment LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 209.7% in the fourth quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 2,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $142,000 after buying an additional 1,554 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,158,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 report on Thursday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.63.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.55 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.98.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

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.