Redwood Investment Management LLC Increases Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Redwood Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 6.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,792 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,445 shares during the quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 38.6% in the 1st quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 29,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,583,000 after purchasing an additional 8,229 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,582,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $124,035,000 after purchasing an additional 232,237 shares during the period. Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,467,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 18.5% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 4,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $264,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $262,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 3.3%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $64.17 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $13.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21 and a beta of 1.48. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $57.27 and its 200-day moving average price is $54.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.59% and a net margin of 7.70%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.38%.

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.