Moors & Cabot Inc. Acquires 13,137 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 46.1% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 41,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,137 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,277,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elequin Capital LP raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 117.9% in the first quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 297 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the period. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 966 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 123.9% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 637 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 87.9% during the 1st quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after purchasing an additional 649 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF opened at $53.94 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.54 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $60.50 and a 200 day moving average of $56.25. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.98%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.