Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Cuts Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky reduced its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 16.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 50,535 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 9,690 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,962,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $309,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $46.80. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,540,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,578,085. The company has a market capitalization of $9.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $53.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.94. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.28 and a one year high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Jefferies Financial Group's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JEF. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.