KBC Group NV Sells 12,402 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

KBC Group NV cut its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 11.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 94,945 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 12,402 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $5,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of JEF. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Nvwm LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 433.3% in the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rothschild Investment LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.0%

JEF opened at $48.08 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.24 and a beta of 1.52. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $44.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.