Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Separately, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $44.33.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $45.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.50 and a beta of 1.33. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52-week low of $31.12 and a 52-week high of $47.87. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $44.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 98.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at $666,165,525. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total value of $2,546,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 2,591,350 shares in the company, valued at $119,979,505. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cetera Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $267,000. PGGM Investments boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 41.8% during the first quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 65,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,905,000 after purchasing an additional 19,430 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $404,000. Algebris UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter valued at about $2,154,000. Finally, Comerica Bank boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.0% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 90,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,971,000 after purchasing an additional 8,907 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.