2,594 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Bought by Lake Street Advisors Group LLC

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 2,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $66.17 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $74.36 and a 200-day moving average of $69.37. The stock has a market cap of $13.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $40.72 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.