Federated Hermes Inc. Buys 1,245 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 8.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,439 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,245 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Hemington Wealth Management raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% during the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Stephens Consulting LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 31st. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.6 %

JEF stock opened at $43.89 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.73 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $58.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.17.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28). The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.87 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.