Edgestream Partners L.P. Cuts Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Edgestream Partners L.P. trimmed its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 39.4% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,693 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,607 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,663,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,505,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.5% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,145,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.0% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on JEF. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.8%

JEF opened at $58.86 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $12.14 billion, a PE ratio of 20.23 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company has a 50 day moving average of $56.19 and a 200 day moving average of $57.24.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.22. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 54.98%.

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.