Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Holdings Lifted by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 15,354,633 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 22,287 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 0.07% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $1,203,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Hemington Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% during the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 165 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after buying an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,594,000 after acquiring an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $54.42 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26 and a beta of 1.37. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $67.00 and a 200-day moving average of $69.41. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.72 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.