Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Bought by Lee Danner & Bass Inc.

Lee Danner & Bass Inc. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 77.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 148,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 65,000 shares during the quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $6,141,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,798,000 after acquiring an additional 17,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reduced 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 report on Thursday, June 25th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.0%

JEF stock opened at $52.62 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $35.53 and a one year high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $53.81 and its 200 day moving average is $52.92. The firm has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.54.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.69%.

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

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.