WR Wealth Planners LLC Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

WR Wealth Planners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $707,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $62,905,000 after purchasing an additional 490,389 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $48,063,000 after purchasing an additional 381,893 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of JEF traded down $0.89 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $65.32. 592,275 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,345,901. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $13.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.95 and a beta of 1.34. The business's 50-day moving average price is $74.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.55. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $40.72 and a 1 year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.69%.

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.