Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Trims Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lowered its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 72.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,842 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 20,282 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of JEF. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $788,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of NYSE JEF traded up $1.14 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $54.68. The company had a trading volume of 276,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,489,536. The business's 50-day moving average is $65.60 and its 200 day moving average is $69.50. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.72 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $11.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32 and a beta of 1.37.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 55.36%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.