Man Group plc Makes New $32.70 Million Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 654,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,702,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. CX Institutional grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% in the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of JEF opened at $53.12 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 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’s 50-day moving average price is $54.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.82. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly 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 net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 44.69%.

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.