276,532 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by Tran Capital Management L.P.

Tran Capital Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 276,532 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,814,000. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 2.0% of Tran Capital Management L.P.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. Tran Capital Management L.P. owned 0.13% of Jefferies Financial Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position 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 valued at $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 2,094,191 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,437,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position 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 buying an additional 1,127,335 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.11 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $53.60. The company's 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 twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $47.96 and a 200-day moving average of $62.76. The stock has a market cap of $11.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.99 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.87 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 55.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.