Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp cut its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 1.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,703,346 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 24,636 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned about 0.83% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $91,248,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 29,542 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,583,000 after acquiring an additional 8,229 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,582,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $124,035,000 after acquiring an additional 232,237 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 18.5% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $264,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at about $262,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of JEF traded up $1.18 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $55.87. 3,840,754 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,875,400. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a market capitalization of $11.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $52.45 and a 200 day moving average of $58.86.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.59% and a net margin of 7.70%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.38%.

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.