Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co trimmed its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 18.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 143,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 33,201 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $11,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in 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 valued at $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $252,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 232.9% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 280,026 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,174,000 after acquiring an additional 195,902 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $6,455,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of JEF stock opened at $41.61 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.96 and a beta of 1.29. 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 quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $55.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.49.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.