Cwm LLC Has $6.74 Million Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Key Points

• Cwm LLC increased its stake in Jefferies by 1,008.8% in Q4 to 108,739 shares worth $6.74 million, equivalent to roughly 0.05% of the company.
• Analysts are mixed—three Buy and four Hold ratings produce an average rating of Hold with an average target price of $58.14, while recent target moves ranged from Goldman raising to $54 to BMO cutting to $42.
• Jefferies missed quarterly EPS ($0.70 vs. $0.89) despite revenue rising 26.6% YoY to $2.02 billion, and the company declared a $0.40 quarterly dividend (annualized $1.60) for a 3.4% yield.

Cwm LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 1,008.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 108,739 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 98,932 shares during the quarter. Cwm LLC owned approximately 0.05% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $6,739,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JEF. Bison Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the period. Amundi raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $12,798,000 after purchasing an additional 17,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $47.52 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.52. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $44.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $53.74.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 54.05%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.

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