Sciencast Management LP Acquires New Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Sciencast Management LP acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 4,983 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $274,627,000 after purchasing an additional 1,184,822 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth approximately $58,972,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,808,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,723,000 after acquiring an additional 819,594 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Eisler Capital Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth approximately $16,389,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $64.38 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $13.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.29 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company’s 50-day moving average is $59.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $54.56. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 6.59%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 60.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $70.50.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.