8,017 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd.

Arrowpoint Investment Partners Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,017 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $629,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $203,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,582,075 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $124,035,000 after acquiring an additional 232,237 shares during the last quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $788,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the period. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,569,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $50.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $49.85 and a 200 day moving average of $65.22. The company has a market cap of $10.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 analysts' expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm's revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.75.

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.

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