Eagle Ridge Investment Management Takes $223,000 Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $223,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Finally, Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE JEF opened at $76.36 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.58 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $15.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.62 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $77.40 and its 200 day moving average is $67.87.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

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.