Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Bought by Stifel Financial Corp

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 187.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,392 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 19,157 shares during the quarter. Stifel Financial Corp's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in 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 acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 4.5 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $49.29 on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The business's fifty day moving average is $51.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.35. 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 $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54 and a beta of 1.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for 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 business's quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded 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 report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Monday, March 31st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note 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.

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