Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P decreased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 446,447 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 56,605 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $35,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $746,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $938,000. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $243,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC grew its stake in 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 last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of 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 9.7 %

Shares of JEF stock opened at $54.42 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26 and a beta of 1.37. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $67.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.41. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

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.