Boston Common Asset Management LLC Acquires Shares of 61,317 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Boston Common Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 61,317 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,011,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after buying an additional 966 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $69,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on JEF shares. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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 research report on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $61.97 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $60.37 and its 200-day moving average is $59.68. The firm has a market cap of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90 and a beta of 1.51. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $78.06. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.31%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 56.54%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.