Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. lessened its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 104,690 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 5,546 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. owned about 0.05% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $5,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JEF. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 193.8% during the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 705 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 123.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 105.5% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,525 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $82,000 after buying an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% in the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE JEF traded up $0.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $56.90. 766,664 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,696,588. The company has a market capitalization of $11.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The firm's 50-day moving average is $51.68 and its 200-day moving average is $59.78.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% 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 firm earned $0.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 60.38%.

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.