XTX Topco Ltd Purchases 13,618 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

XTX Topco Ltd grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 106.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,429 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 13,618 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,072,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted 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 buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $309,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $415,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE JEF traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.77. The stock had a trading volume of 1,346,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,580,027. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company's 50-day moving average price is $56.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.57. The company has a market capitalization of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.29.

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 EPS 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 business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% 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 year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

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.