Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Invests $17.04 Million in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 421,600 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,037,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd owned approximately 0.20% of Jefferies Financial Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 76.9% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,236,862 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $130,802,000 after buying an additional 1,406,920 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,435,000. Hosking Partners LLP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 842,947 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $30,877,000 after buying an additional 86,898 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 49.1% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 234,154 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $9,462,000 after buying an additional 77,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 26.4% in the 3rd quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 120,035 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,397,000 after purchasing an additional 25,040 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.65 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $42.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,753,842 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,023,006. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $42.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $28.81 and a 12-month high of $47.39. The company has a market capitalization of $8.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57 and a beta of 1.37.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 5.90%. The firm'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 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 98.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the subject of several research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on 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 lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $43.33.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.