VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Makes New Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 37,750 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,339,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Rock Point Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Rock Point Advisors LLC now owns 180,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,178,000 after purchasing an additional 7,138 shares during the period. Arena Capital Advisors LLC CA purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $930,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 924,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $57,298,000 after purchasing an additional 14,812 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 176,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,944,000 after purchasing an additional 5,618 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Management Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at $261,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $52.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.65 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $44.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $53.15.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.05%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.