Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Congress Wealth Management LLC DE

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 72.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 20,282 shares during the quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 228.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 375,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,442,000 after buying an additional 261,061 shares during the period. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $2,446,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 423,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,166,000 after acquiring an additional 27,228 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $212,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $14,005,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 4.0 %

JEF opened at $52.17 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $66.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

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.