Hsbc Holdings PLC Raises Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 895.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 120,326 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 108,242 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $4,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% in the fourth 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 boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 454,054 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $211,460,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984,055 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,390,000 after buying an additional 24,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,607,512 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $161,595,000 after acquiring an additional 29,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of several research reports. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. UBS Group reduced their price target on 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. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Two investment 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:JEF opened at $55.87 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a PE ratio of 15.61 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s 50 day moving average is $55.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 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.