Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Stock Position Lifted by AlphaQuest LLC

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 41.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 36,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,809 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,281,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 245.2% during the third 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 grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 147,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,848,000 after acquiring an additional 31,288 shares in the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 284.7% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 226,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,835,000 after acquiring an additional 167,817 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 186.8% in the third quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 37,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth approximately $2,114,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Three research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $51.94 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.55 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $35.53 and a one year high of $71.04. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $46.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $53.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.