Dark Forest Capital Management LP Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Dark Forest Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $315,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $421,882,000 after buying an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $46.93 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $53.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $66.87. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th.

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.