Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Buys Shares of 15,333 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 15,333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $766,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter valued at about $3,509,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 132,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,196,000 after acquiring an additional 64,682 shares during the period. Check Capital Management Inc. CA purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,041,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,941,000. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,669,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of JEF opened at $53.13 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The stock has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.73.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus 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.