Munro Partners Buys New Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Munro Partners bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 975,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $60,470,000. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 1.6% of Munro Partners’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $510,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,574,000. MML Investors Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 40.0% in the 4th quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 20,166 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,250,000 after purchasing an additional 5,761 shares during the period. Mariner LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 190.7% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 148,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,244,000 after purchasing an additional 97,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.1% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 182,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,310,000 after purchasing an additional 21,072 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.38.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:JEF opened at $61.87 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company has a market cap of $12.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $53.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.57 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.86 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.05%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.