Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Acquired by Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC

Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 123.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 108,520 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $9,825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% in the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on JEF shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on 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. UBS Group cut their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.1%

JEF opened at $53.13 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $54.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $50.73.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal 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 reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. 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.