Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Takes $766,000 Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 15,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $766,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $834,947,000. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,167,000 after purchasing an additional 3,211,375 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,812,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $236,268,000 after purchasing an additional 454,054 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,460,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,390,000 after purchasing an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.1%

JEF stock opened at $53.13 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $54.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.73. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley upped their target price 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. Weiss Ratings lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

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.