Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd Acquires 26,600 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 224.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,449 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 26,600 shares during the quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth $107,356,000. Eminence Capital LP purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $79,958,000. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 6,056.0% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 949,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,905,000 after buying an additional 933,653 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.2% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,082,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $113,911,000 after acquiring an additional 648,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at $32,395,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of JEF traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $62.15. 43,246 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,946,854. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.96 and a beta of 1.51. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $61.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $59.92. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $77.83.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.31%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 56.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. UBS Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $72.71.

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.