Equitable Trust Co. lowered its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF – Get Rating) by 11.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,530 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 2,850 shares during the period. Equitable Trust Co.'s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $635,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 73.4% in the second quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 11,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $328,000 after purchasing an additional 5,025 shares during the period. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.3% during the second quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 88,627 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,448,000 after acquiring an additional 9,698 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.4% during the second quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 88,218 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,437,000 after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 181.4% during the second quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,818 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $133,000 after acquiring an additional 3,106 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $118,000. Institutional investors own 66.04% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $40.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Tuesday, January 10th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group to $46.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 5th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, October 12th. They set a "hold" rating for the company. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $38.00 to $37.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 21st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.75.

Insider Buying and Selling

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.6 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $38.07 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 1.40. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.88 and a 52 week high of $40.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a current ratio of 2.11.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Monday, January 9th. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.57. The company had revenue of $1.44 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.25 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 12.90% and a return on equity of 8.32%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.36 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.39 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 24th. Investors of record on Monday, February 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 10th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.60%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

(Get Rating)

Jefferies Financial Group, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through the following segments: Investment Banking, Capital Markets, and Asset Management, Merchant Banking, and Corporate. The Investment Banking, Capital Markets, and Asset Management segment consists of investments in Jefferies Group.

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