14,794 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Bought by New York Life Investment Management LLC

New York Life Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 14,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $917,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of JEF. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $30,000. Nvwm LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $51.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.45 billion, a PE ratio of 17.26 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. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $44.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.09. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.53 and a 52-week high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.57 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.