30,888 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 30,888 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,655,000.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JEF. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 135.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,805,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $141,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037,785 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,122,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $57.76 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $56.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79 and a beta of 1.48.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.04). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.59% and a net margin of 7.70%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.8%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 60.38%.

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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