Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 11,851 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $775,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.4% in the second quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,505,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. State of Michigan Retirement System lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,145,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 7,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. Finally, ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 7,225 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.5%

JEF stock opened at $63.79 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.92 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average of $56.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $58.48. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.The firm’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $72.71.

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.