Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Invests $938,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 11,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $938,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after purchasing an additional 490,389 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $35,122,000. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $53.53 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.50. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $11.03 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.