20,763 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Purchased by Brian Low Financial Group LLC

Brian Low Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 20,763 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,358,000. Jefferies Financial Group accounts for approximately 1.1% of Brian Low Financial Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,990,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,374,000 after acquiring an additional 578,013 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,808,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $364,723,000 after acquiring an additional 819,594 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.2% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,082,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,911,000 after purchasing an additional 648,762 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth $107,356,000. Finally, Eminence Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $79,958,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on JEF. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE JEF opened at $63.90 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $57.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.59. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market cap of $13.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.96 and a beta of 1.52.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.98%.

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.