Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Position Trimmed by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 12.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,498,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 628,360 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 2.18% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $246,004,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Elequin Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 117.9% in the 1st quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.9% in the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth about $78,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JEF has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $56.80 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $11.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $57.10.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.8%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.98%.

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.