Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Sells 33,088 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 55.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,980 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 33,088 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $469,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake 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 valued at $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on JEF. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. 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 given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF traded up $1.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $52.45. 2,433,757 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,655,707. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $47.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.40.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business's revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

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.