Cynosure Group LLC Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $510,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,167,000 after buying an additional 3,211,375 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $145,584,000. Eminence Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 129.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,358,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,717,000 after buying an additional 1,896,547 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 583.2% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,016,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $63,014,000 after buying an additional 868,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2,644.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 839,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $52,037,000 after buying an additional 809,115 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on JEF. Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $72.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.38.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.1%

NYSE JEF opened at $62.03 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $51.22 and its 200 day moving average is $53.19. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The stock has a market cap of $12.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.96 and a beta of 1.54.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued 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 of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 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.