Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Position Boosted by GSA Capital Partners LLP

GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 186.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 57,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 37,530 shares during the quarter. Jefferies Financial Group comprises about 0.3% of GSA Capital Partners LLP’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest holding. GSA Capital Partners LLP’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,770,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rothschild Investment LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rothschild Investment LLC now owns 741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% in the third quarter. Northwestern Mutual Investment Management Company LLC now owns 36,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,406,000 after purchasing an additional 404 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.0% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 50,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,416 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 74,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,847,000 after buying an additional 551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN Amro Investment Solutions bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,142,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $53.64 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $72.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The company has a market cap of $11.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.96 and a beta of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $61.44 and its 200-day moving average price is $60.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The company had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, December 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.