Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. Makes New $243,000 Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Keystone Investors PTE Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $243,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. LPL Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 228.1% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 375,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,442,000 after purchasing an additional 261,061 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $2,446,000. Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 423,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,166,000 after buying an additional 27,228 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth about $212,000. Finally, Trivest Advisors Ltd acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $14,005,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 4.8 %

Shares of JEF opened at $62.22 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88 and a beta of 1.37. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $67.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.54. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th.

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.