Vanguard Group Inc. Lowers Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Key Points

• Vanguard Group trimmed its Jefferies stake by 0.9% in Q4, selling 140,786 shares and now owns 14,734,593 shares (about 7.14%) valued at roughly $913.1 million.
• Wall Street's view is mixed — several firms revised targets and ratings, and the stock carries a consensus "Hold" rating with a consensus target price of $58.14.
• Jefferies missed earnings with EPS of $0.70 versus $0.89 expected (revenue $2.02B, +26.6% YoY) and announced a $0.40 quarterly dividend (annualized $1.60, ~3.2% yield).

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,734,593 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 140,786 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.14% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $913,103,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $30,000. Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 622 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 252 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 2.4%

Shares of JEF opened at $49.37 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.68 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $35.53 and a one year high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.26.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.

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