Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Position Increased by GAMMA Investing LLC

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 11,895.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 61,659 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 61,145 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,303,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $469,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of 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. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during 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 during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen cut Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $53.60. The stock had a trading volume of 2,418,193 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,681,006. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week 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 company has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 1.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $47.96 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.76.

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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

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.