Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Hits New 52-Week Low – Time to Sell?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) shares hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $39.28 and last traded at $39.88, with a volume of 187624 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $43.14.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $8.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JEF. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth approximately $788,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.