Praxis Investment Management Inc. Purchases Shares of 6,260 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Praxis Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $342,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Elequin Capital LP boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 117.9% in the first quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 297 shares in the last quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 193.8% in the first quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 465 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 123.9% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 637 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.9% in the first quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 649 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter valued at about $78,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 5.8%

JEF opened at $51.64 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market cap of $10.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75 and a beta of 1.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.32 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.20. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.