GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 61,145 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 11,895.9% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 61,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 61,145 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $3,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.4% in the first quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 60,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,220,000 after purchasing an additional 4,166 shares in the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 110.8% during the 1st quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 82,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,409,000 after acquiring an additional 43,269 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 105.5% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,525 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $82,000 after acquiring an additional 783 shares in the last quarter. 111 Capital purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $244,000. Finally, Thoma Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,130,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $53.49 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95 and a beta of 1.45. 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’s fifty day moving average price is $47.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.76. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.