Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Stock Holdings Lessened by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 7.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,414,739 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 116,860 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.69% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $110,916,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $123,987,000 after acquiring an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $267,000. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 34,088 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,672,000 after acquiring an additional 9,582 shares in the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 55,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,375,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,509 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $354,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. 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. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.3%

JEF traded down $0.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $50.62. 1,262,522 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,605,398. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.47. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $49.92 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $65.33.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

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.