Fred Alger Management LLC Acquires Shares of 52,876 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Fred Alger Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 52,876 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,145,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.8%

JEF stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.47. 1,151,829 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,596,893. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $50.14 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.72. 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The company has a market capitalization of $11.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28 and a beta of 1.47.

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 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.