Kera Capital Partners Inc. Acquires 10,249 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Kera Capital Partners Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 10.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 104,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,249 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group comprises about 1.0% of Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Kera Capital Partners Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $6,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,353,399 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,867,000 after buying an additional 363,219 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 45.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,082,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,911,000 after purchasing an additional 648,762 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth approximately $107,356,000. Eminence Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $79,958,000. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 1,338,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,201,000 after purchasing an additional 111,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:JEF opened at $62.04 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a PE ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $78.21. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $59.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.42.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.71.

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.