Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership decreased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 16.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,720,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 335,588 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned about 0.83% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $134,874,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Hemington Wealth Management grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $52.17 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $66.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The stock has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 1.37.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.