Quent Capital LLC Acquires 322 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Quent Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 322 shares during the quarter. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Ritholtz Wealth Management acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $229,000. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 18.2% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,273 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after buying an additional 4,349 shares during the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 105.8% during the 3rd quarter. nVerses Capital LLC now owns 14,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $874,000 after buying an additional 7,300 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $218,000. Finally, Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 21,545 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after acquiring an additional 1,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:JEF opened at $71.90 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.41. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.86 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 1.34.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

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.