Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Invests $326,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Atomi Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 12,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $423,000. Artemis Investment Management LLP boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,394,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,353,000 after purchasing an additional 118,886 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,061,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.9 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $71.90 on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.86 and a one year high of $82.68. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.41. The company has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 1.34. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

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.