Lee Danner & Bass Inc. Sells 5,546 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 5.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. 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 approximately 0.05% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $5,608,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 193.8% during the 1st quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 705 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 123.9% in the 1st 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% in 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 in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $54.81. 1,994,227 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,882,926. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $52.01 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.49. 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 (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.64 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.