Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Purchased by Fmr LLC

FMR LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 63.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the quarter. FMR LLC owned about 2.61% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $421,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $309,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $62,905,000 after acquiring an additional 490,389 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,520,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $35,122,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

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Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.3 %

NYSE:JEF traded up $1.01 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $44.78. The stock had a trading volume of 310,355 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,565,078. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $58.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.17. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year 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 company has a market cap of $9.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.04 and a beta of 1.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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.