Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Purchased by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $182,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 245.2% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 651,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,603,000 after purchasing an additional 462,546 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 147,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,848,000 after purchasing an additional 31,288 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 284.7% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 226,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,835,000 after purchasing an additional 167,817 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 186.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,770,000 after purchasing an additional 37,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,114,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $52.85 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $71.04. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $52.93.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid 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 was Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.