Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Boosts Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 357.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,315 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,787 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% in the 1st quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. now owns 148,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,141,000 after buying an additional 65,000 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 16.8% during the 1st quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 1,689 shares in the last quarter. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter valued at $897,000. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.1% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 182,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,517,000 after acquiring an additional 8,827 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 142.2% in the first quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 93,264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,849,000 after acquiring an additional 54,753 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $52.89 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04. The firm has a market cap of $10.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.77 and a beta of 1.54. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $54.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $52.76. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is 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.