West Michigan Advisors LLC Makes New $300,000 Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

West Michigan Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,821 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $300,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $202,312,000 after buying an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,905,000 after buying an additional 490,389 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $48,063,000 after buying an additional 381,893 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $123,987,000 after acquiring an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF traded down $2.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $63.78. 1,437,662 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,348,987. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 1.34. The business's fifty day moving average price is $74.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.60.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.51%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

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.