Elgethun Capital Management Sells 1,088 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Elgethun Capital Management lowered its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,088 shares during the quarter. Elgethun Capital Management’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,348,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JEF. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 46,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 3,383 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 132,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,355,000 after buying an additional 6,890 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.0% during the first quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 14,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.9% during the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 70,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,329,000 after acquiring an additional 5,778 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,482,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $607,163,000 after purchasing an additional 233,844 shares during the last quarter. 70.80% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on JEF. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $34.61. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 131,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,344,306. The company has a market cap of $7.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $34.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.00. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.34 and a 52-week high of $40.80.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, September 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.11). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.32% and a net margin of 7.02%. The company had revenue of $1.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 86.96%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc engages in the investment banking and capital markets, and asset management businesses in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 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, restructurings or recapitalizations and private capital advisory transactions; equity and debt underwriting; and corporate lending.