Voya Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Voya Investment Management LLC cut its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 21.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 100,326 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 27,673 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $7,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 114,592 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $8,985,000 after purchasing an additional 6,098 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 42.7% in the fourth quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 44,959 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,525,000 after purchasing an additional 13,449 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $315,000. Quantessence Capital LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $284,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 193.4% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 10,802 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $852,000 after purchasing an additional 7,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of JEF traded up $2.13 on Friday, hitting $49.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,256,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,585,283. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.29. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $51.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.36. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.