Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Buys 25,026 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 816.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,026 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Eminence Capital LP lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 129.7% in the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,358,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $219,717,000 after purchasing an additional 1,896,547 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.6% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,115,548 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $138,399,000 after purchasing an additional 32,708 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,777,169 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,262,000 after purchasing an additional 88,384 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 56.2% in the third quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,481,993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,952,000 after purchasing an additional 532,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 16.4% in the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 909,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $59,519,000 after purchasing an additional 128,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $48.61 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $9.94 billion, a PE ratio of 16.42 and a beta of 1.53. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.55 and a 200 day moving average of $53.25. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

JEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.14.

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.