Norges Bank Invests $35.52 Million in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Norges Bank purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 453,059 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $35,520,000. Norges Bank owned 0.22% of Jefferies Financial Group as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $746,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $938,000. Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $243,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 228.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 375,531 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $29,442,000 after acquiring an additional 261,061 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 6.8 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded down $3.20 on Thursday, hitting $44.00. The stock had a trading volume of 292,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,070,273. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.28 and a one year high of $82.68. The stock has a market cap of $9.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $60.69 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.51.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued 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 company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.