58,278 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Bought by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 58,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,934,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Smithfield Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% in the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 692 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE:JEF opened at $53.13 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.41 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.79. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $35.53 and a 52-week high of $71.04. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a PE ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.