Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Purchases 10,047 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 578,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,047 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 5.3% of Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $35,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Nvwm LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $36,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.8%

JEF opened at $52.51 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $45.25 and its 200-day moving average is $53.08. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $10.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74 and a beta of 1.53.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.