Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 6,159 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 77.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,159 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 19.9% during the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 143,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,279,000 after acquiring an additional 23,864 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 40,667 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,188,000 after acquiring an additional 5,855 shares during the last quarter. OFI Invest Asset Management bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $574,000. Blankinship & Foster LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $293,000. Finally, Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.5 %

JEF opened at $59.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $68.71 and its 200 day moving average is $69.42.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its 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 return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.