Sage Rhino Capital LLC Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Sage Rhino Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,884 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,337,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 3.7 %

Shares of JEF opened at $63.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $13.15 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $40.72 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.51%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.