Banque Pictet & Cie SA Invests $616,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Banque Pictet & Cie SA bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 11,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $616,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 193.8% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 123.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 637 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% during the 4th quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 105.5% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after buying an additional 783 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $141,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $55.69 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $11.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02 and a beta of 1.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $52.34 and its 200-day moving average is $59.31.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.04). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 6.62%. The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.38%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

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.