Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Citadel Investment Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 3.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Citadel Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $819,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Principal Securities Inc. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 161.4% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 355 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 163.1% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,218 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $247,000 after buying an additional 1,995 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,645,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $129,028,000 after buying an additional 47,141 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 31,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,423,000 after buying an additional 1,914 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $52.21 on Monday. 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.16. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $10.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.52 and a beta of 1.45.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

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.