CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Cuts Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co cut its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 18.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,326 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 33,201 shares during the period. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co owned 0.07% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $11,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after buying an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF traded up $0.08 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $46.80. 1,540,603 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,581,503. The company has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The business's 50 day moving average is $53.65 and its 200-day moving average is $66.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

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.