BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 200 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lessened its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 4,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $230,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.7% in the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 16,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $836,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. HMS Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.7% during the 1st quarter. HMS Capital Management LLC now owns 10,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $443,000 after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.0% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 7,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 364 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 59,046 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,386,000 after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of JEF stock traded down $0.42 on Wednesday, hitting $58.18. The stock had a trading volume of 887,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,139,632. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.38 and a twelve month high of $59.45. The firm has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.30 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $53.79 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.42.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The firm’s revenue was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.