6,850 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Acquired by Petra Financial Advisors Inc.

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $537,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $301,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $514,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $57.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.50. 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 $11.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 1.37.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.