Quent Capital LLC Buys 322 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Quent Capital LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 6,281 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 322 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after purchasing an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $772,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $3,337,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. 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 research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $71.90 on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.86 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $77.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.41. The company has a market cap of $14.82 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost 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 yield of 2.23%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

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.