Redwood Investment Management LLC Decreases Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Redwood Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 71.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,347 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 59,734 shares during the quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $421,882,000 after buying an additional 2,094,191 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF traded down $1.49 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $51.21. The company had a trading volume of 2,022,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,606,768. The stock has a market cap of $10.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.18 and a beta of 1.47. The company's 50 day moving average price is $50.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.42. 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 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week 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 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The business's revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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