Clearstead Advisors LLC Purchases 19,447 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Clearstead Advisors LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5,965.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 19,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,447 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,225,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $30,000. Nvwm LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. UBS Group reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, 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 $52.09 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $46.46 and a 200-day moving average of $53.04. The company has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.