Blue Trust Inc. Sells 955 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Blue Trust Inc. decreased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 25.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 955 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $152,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.6% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 12.8% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $159,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,594,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JEF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $41.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.25.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $55.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $11.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17 and a beta of 1.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $49.75 and its 200 day moving average is $61.08.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.26% and a net margin of 9.31%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

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.