Gradient Investments LLC Increases Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 807.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 291,780 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 259,615 shares during the period. Gradient Investments LLC owned 0.14% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $18,082,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 26.8% during the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 147,894 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,848,000 after acquiring an additional 31,288 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 42.9% during the fourth quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 27,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,759,000 after purchasing an additional 8,187 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 81.3% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 1,117 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 80.7% in the third quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 7,215 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 3,223 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent fundamentals: Jefferies reported a recent quarter that beat consensus on both EPS and revenue and shows steady revenue growth and positive ROE — a reminder of underlying earnings power that supports valuation over the medium term.
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies’ research activity is driving market headlines (notably an upgrade of SolarEdge), which highlights the firm’s active equity research footprint but is unlikely to materially move JEF’s stock alone. SolarEdge hits 52-week high as Jefferies upgrades
• Neutral Sentiment: Street preview and Q1 estimates for JEF are getting attention — analysts and modelers are parsing key metrics for the quarter ended Feb 2026, which could steer near-term guidance expectations but so far are informational. Curious about Jefferies (JEF) Q1 Performance?
• Negative Sentiment: Credit-quality concerns flagged by analysts and commentators are gaining traction — a recent column argues that credit risks may offset Jefferies’ discounted valuation, heightening investor caution around asset and lending exposures. Jefferies: Credit Concerns Overshadow Discounted Valuation
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/investor scrutiny: Pomerantz LLP has opened an investigation into Jefferies on behalf of investors, which can increase headline risk and investor uncertainty until any findings or developments are resolved. Pomerantz investigation of Jefferies

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.2%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $38.12 on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.47 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $52.37 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The company’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.54%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $61.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $60.00.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.