Legal & General Group Plc Has $32.44 Million Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 10.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 413,807 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 37,659 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.20% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $32,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

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Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of JEF stock traded up $0.38 on Tuesday, hitting $44.15. 1,170,515 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,571,636. 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 capitalization of $9.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.81 and a beta of 1.29. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $58.14 and a 200 day moving average of $68.00.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. The company's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.