Petra Financial Advisors Inc. Buys New Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,850 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $154,153,000 after buying an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.5 %

NYSE:JEF traded up $0.28 on Friday, hitting $59.46. The stock had a trading volume of 1,907,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,420,364. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $68.29 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.95 and a beta of 1.37.

Remove Ads

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS 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 analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company's revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share 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 issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 53.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 13th.

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.