Wealth Architects LLC Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Wealth Architects LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $227,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Twin Tree Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $3,118,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake 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 valued at $96,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,136,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 34,933 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,739,000 after purchasing an additional 371 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 813.9% in the fourth quarter. Catalyst Funds Management Pty Ltd now owns 16,450 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 14,650 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $57.60 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.33 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.50.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.