Sanctuary Advisors LLC Buys 1,914 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 6.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,914 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,423,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 18.2% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after buying an additional 4,349 shares during the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $42,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 389,623.2% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 268,909 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,551,000 after buying an additional 268,840 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 364.9% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 311,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $19,202,000 after buying an additional 244,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Highland Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth $1,175,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.8 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $65.52 on Friday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.10. The company has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.99 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on JEF. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer dropped 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.

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.