Clearstead Advisors LLC Purchases 19,447 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5,965.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,447 shares during the period. Clearstead Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,225,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Nvwm LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Chilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $36,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.3%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $52.09 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.04. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.05%.

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.