Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report published on Tuesday.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $53.39 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $50.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.49. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $11.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92 and a beta of 1.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The business 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

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.