Legal & General Group Plc Acquires Shares of 236,891 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 236,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,840,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 50.0% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. United Capital Financial Advisors LLC now owns 3,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $255,000 after buying an additional 234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CX Institutional grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.1%

NYSE:JEF opened at $52.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $54.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.67. The company has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a PE ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 1.54. 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.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program 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 reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on JEF. 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 boosted their price objective on shares of 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. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.