Simmons Bank Boosts Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Simmons Bank raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEFFree Report) by 3.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 302 shares during the period. Simmons Bank’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 45.6% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 907 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $72,000 after acquiring an additional 284 shares during the last quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.4% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 3,175 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 64.5% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 147,404 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,556,000 after acquiring an additional 57,799 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after acquiring an additional 2,332 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $250,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.00.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on JEF

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $56.90 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $11.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.47 and a beta of 1.46. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.78. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEFGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.62% and a net margin of 7.70%. The business’s revenue was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.38%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF)

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