Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Decreases Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 547,160 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 118,536 shares during the quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI owned 0.27% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $42,897,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in 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 buying an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 buying an additional 232,237 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $788,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its position in 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 buying an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $2,569,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 2.8%

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $51.21 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $49.92 and a 200 day moving average of $65.33. The company has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a PE ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced 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 net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.12%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target 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, Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.75.

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.

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