New York Life Investment Management LLC Purchases Shares of 14,794 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

New York Life Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $917,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Nvwm LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 9th. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $51.09 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.26 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $44.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.09.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.57 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.