NewEdge Wealth LLC Acquires 14,812 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 924,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,812 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC owned about 0.45% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $57,298,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Boston Common Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at $4,011,000. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 927.8% in the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 23,474 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 245.2% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 651,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,603,000 after acquiring an additional 462,546 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 26.8% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 147,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,848,000 after acquiring an additional 31,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 284.7% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 226,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after acquiring an additional 167,817 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JEF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 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 report on Tuesday, April 14th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $52.89 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company’s 50 day moving average is $43.54 and its 200 day moving average is $53.24. The company has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.87 and a beta of 1.53.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its 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). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 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.