Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 57.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. owned approximately 1.91% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $309,029,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after buying an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,028,000 after buying an additional 47,141 shares during the period. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,394,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,353,000 after buying an additional 118,886 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of JEF opened at $52.17 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $66.53 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.51 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its 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). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.