Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Has $21.80 Million Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 278,078 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 21,219 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $21,801,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Hemington Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% during the 4th quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Caprock Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,087 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,594,000 after purchasing an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE JEF opened at $65.80 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.08 and a beta of 1.34. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $74.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $40.72 and a 52 week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 53.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

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.