Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Sold by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 130,247 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 41,078 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.06% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $8,071,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $36,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 433.3% during the 4th quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 736 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 598 shares in the last quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after buying an additional 548 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, March 9th. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $57.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $39.84 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $50.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.36.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.86%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Key Headlines Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly dividend announced (0.40 per share, ~4.0% yield) — supports income investors and provides baseline shareholder support.
• Positive Sentiment: Unusually large options activity — investors bought a big volume of JEF calls, signaling some speculative/hedged bullish interest in the shares.
• Positive Sentiment: Profit rose on dealmaking: Jefferies reported higher profits driven by investment‑banking revenue, which underpins the firm’s strength in advisory and markets. Jefferies profit rises on dealmaking
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 results characterized as mixed — some outlets say earnings met consensus and revenue rose on strong IB and equities, but other reporting highlights offsetting weakness in fixed income and private credit. JEF’s Q1 Earnings Meet Estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies’ research team made portfolio moves unrelated to JEF’s balance sheet (Christopher Wood sold HDFC Bank and cut India weightings) — reputational/newsflow effect for Jefferies as a broker, but indirect for JEF share value. Jefferies’ Chris Wood sells HDFC Bank
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑lending blowups produced a tangible charge (reported ~$17M in losses), which directly pressured quarterly results and investor sentiment around Jefferies’ credit exposure. How Did Private-Lending Blowups Affect Jefferies’ Bottom Line?
• Negative Sentiment: Jefferies disclosed an additional ~$10M First Brands loss/write‑off — another hit tied to credit exposures that reduced reported profitability. Jefferies reports new $10mn First Brands loss
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation inquiry: Pomerantz LLP has opened an investigation into claims on behalf of JEF investors, which raises legal/settlement risk and can weigh on sentiment. Pomerantz Law Firm Investigates Claims on Behalf of Investors of Jefferies
• Negative Sentiment: Goldman lowered its JEF price target (from $54 to $47) — while maintaining a buy, the cut reduces the analyst‑implied upside and can damp buying interest. Goldman Sachs lowed JEF price target

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.