Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 82,674 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 197.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 124,509 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 82,674 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $9,762,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JEF. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 55,801 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,375,000 after acquiring an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE JEF traded up $0.18 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $70.95. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,009,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,655,242. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.23 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $14.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.81 and a beta of 1.34. The business's 50 day moving average is $76.82 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.44.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.