Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $651,000 Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 13,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $651,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,167,000 after buying an additional 3,211,375 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,812,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,268,000 after acquiring an additional 454,054 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,055 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $182,390,000 after acquiring an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,666,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $110,015,000 after acquiring an additional 58,585 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. BMO Capital Markets raised 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 report on Monday, June 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. UBS Group reduced 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. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $53.43 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $55.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $51.05. The company has a market capitalization of $10.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.92 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Private-credit fundraising could support growth: Jefferies Credit Partners is reportedly seeking approximately $1.16 billion, or €1 billion, for a fund investing in private-credit secondary-market opportunities. The fund could expand Jefferies’ asset-management and credit-investment platform, although details on fundraising and economics remain limited. Jefferies Credit Partners Is Moving Its Own Loans Into a New Fund Jefferies aims to raise €1B for private credit secondaries fund
• Neutral Sentiment: Research activity involving other companies is unlikely to materially affect JEF directly: Jefferies maintained or changed recommendations on Bajaj Housing Finance, Swiggy, Jupiter Wagons, Belrise Industries and BSE. These reports may generate advisory or trading activity, but they do not represent changes to JEF’s own earnings outlook. Jefferies research on Bajaj Housing Finance Jefferies research on Swiggy
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder investigation adds an overhang: Bragar Eagel & Squire announced an investigation into Jefferies Financial Group on behalf of investors who suffered losses. The announcement does not establish wrongdoing, but such notices can increase headline, legal and reputational risk. Bragar Eagel & Squire investigation into Jefferies Financial Group

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.