Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Capstone Investment Advisors LLC

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,570 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 414 shares during the period. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $280,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of America Corp DE grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 135.1% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,805,897 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,582,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,785 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 20,286 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,590,000 after buying an additional 2,555 shares during the last quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $593,000. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 78,221 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,132,000 after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of JEF stock opened at $48.18 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.09 and a 200 day simple moving average of $66.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 1.47. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.