Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Boosts Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 5.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 114,592 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,098 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 0.06% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $8,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in 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 worth $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the 4th 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 period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JEF. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF stock traded down $0.57 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $48.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,215,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,589,098. The stock's 50-day moving average is $51.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $66.10. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $82.68. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $9.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.17 and a beta of 1.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.87 earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

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.