M&T Bank Corp Purchases 809,115 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 2,644.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 839,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 809,115 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $52,037,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth about $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,798,000 after purchasing an additional 17,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on JEF. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 23rd. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.14.

Key Stories Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies’ analysts published a flurry of research notes and rating actions on European and global companies (L’Oréal, Lottomatica, Scandic, Reckitt, Pinewood, Metso Outotec, Evolution, Temenos, Diagnostyka, THG) and media coverage of Jefferies’ views on IBM and Groww. These items reflect ongoing research and deal coverage but are not direct drivers of JEF’s share price.
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• Negative Sentiment: Q1 earnings performance remains a headwind — Jefferies reported Q1 EPS of $0.70 vs. consensus $0.89 (revenue roughly in line but EPS miss), and profitability metrics and lower moving averages have kept sentiment cautious. This fundamental earnings miss is a direct negative for JEF shares.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation notice: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Jefferies investors, a development that tends to increase legal and reputational risk and can weigh on the stock. Read More.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $47.00 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $44.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.59. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $35.53 and a one year high of $71.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.05%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.