Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Acquired by Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 4,250.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,230 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $259,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after acquiring an additional 490,389 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,122,000. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $48,063,000 after acquiring an additional 381,893 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $59.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $12.26 billion, a PE ratio of 19.95 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $40.72 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 2.69%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday.

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.