Bull Harbor Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Bull Harbor Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 14,911 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after acquiring an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $359,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $371,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 50.0% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on JEF. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $55.31 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.72 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $55.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $51.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.