Wealth Architects LLC Acquires Shares of 2,896 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Wealth Architects LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,987,000 after acquiring an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,028,000 after acquiring an additional 47,141 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of JEF opened at $57.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $11.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $69.55 and a 200 day moving average of $69.50. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.72 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.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.