Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 23,864 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 19.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 143,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,864 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $11,279,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after acquiring an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,028,000 after acquiring an additional 47,141 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.9 %

JEF stock opened at $54.90 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market cap of $11.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.42 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50 day moving average of $71.01 and a 200 day moving average of $69.47.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. 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 prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.