Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Position Increased by Pinebridge Investments L.P.

Pinebridge Investments L.P. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 42.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,959 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,449 shares during the period. Pinebridge Investments L.P.'s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $203,000 after purchasing an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $154,153,000 after purchasing an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $788,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE JEF traded up $0.13 on Monday, hitting $46.93. 1,266,948 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,580,244. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $53.20 and a 200 day moving average of $66.87. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

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.