Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Bought by Nisa Investment Advisors LLC

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 39.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 230,044 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 64,524 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.11% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $9,296,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.8% during the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 46,910 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,541,000 after purchasing an additional 3,383 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.5% during the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 132,567 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,355,000 after acquiring an additional 6,890 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors L.P. now owns 14,518 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $477,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 70,910 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,329,000 after purchasing an additional 5,778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BlackRock Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,482,896 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $607,163,000 after purchasing an additional 233,844 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $43.49. 867,335 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,073,367. The stock has a market cap of $9.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.65 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $42.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.76. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.81 and a 1 year high of $47.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 98.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com raised Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.33.

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.