Fulton Bank N.A. Buys 224 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Fulton Bank N.A. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $912,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $4,623,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 78,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,161,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 249.0% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 21,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 15,138 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 105.7% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $1,080,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. UBS Group initiated coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.6 %

JEF opened at $63.64 on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $31.38 and a one year high of $64.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market cap of $13.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.16 and a beta of 1.32. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.16.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 7.82%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.23 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $551,773,323.27. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

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.