Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Acquired by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 53.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 432,200 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 151,400 shares during the quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP owned about 0.21% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $33,884,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 worth $309,029,000 after purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position 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 buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.3%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $50.62 on Wednesday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $49.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.22. 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 market cap of $10.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99 and a beta of 1.47. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during 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 company's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.75.

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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