Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 447,990 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $35,122,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Jefferies Financial Group at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,518,000 after purchasing an additional 3,677,233 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. StockNews.com downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. 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 shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 3.5 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $42.62 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $8.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.30 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $57.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $67.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.28 and a one year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.75%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.36%.

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.