Advisory Services Network LLC Makes New Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake 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 valued at $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 worth $421,882,000 after buying an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of JEF opened at $42.77 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $56.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market cap of $8.82 billion, a PE ratio of 14.35 and a beta of 1.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

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.