Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC Purchases New Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 256,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,144,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JEF. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $46.80 on Friday. 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 capitalization of $9.65 billion, a PE ratio of 15.70 and a beta of 1.29. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.94.

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). The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 55.36%.

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.