Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. Sells 5,166 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Wittenberg Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,166 shares during the quarter. Wittenberg Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,884,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Denali Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 66.6% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 56.7% in the 1st quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 1,147 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 415 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, Covington Capital Management grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.8% during the third quarter. Covington Capital Management now owns 2,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 70.80% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $34.70. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 93,854 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,343,928. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $28.34 and a 12 month high of $40.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.30 and a beta of 1.45.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 13th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 86.96%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.