Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $2.59 Million Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 33,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,594,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in JEF. Hemington Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $32,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.3 %

JEF stock opened at $64.89 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $40.72 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.78 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a fifty day moving average of $74.56 and a 200-day moving average of $69.29.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.