Comerica Bank Has $6.13 Million Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 78,221 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the period. Comerica Bank's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $6,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 4.5 %

Shares of JEF stock opened at $49.29 on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month 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 firm has a fifty day moving average of $51.76 and a 200-day moving average of $66.35. The company has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.29.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 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.

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