3,030 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by Nwam LLC

Nwam LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 3,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $238,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after purchasing an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $3,337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of JEF opened at $66.17 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.72 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.46. 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 (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.