Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Purchased by Ellevest Inc.

Ellevest Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 20.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,663 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 780 shares during the quarter. Ellevest Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $366,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the fourth 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 last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings 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 during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $50.36 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a PE ratio of 16.90 and a beta of 1.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $50.27 and a 200-day moving average of $65.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.28 and a one year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on JEF. 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 report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th.

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.