Check Capital Management Inc. CA Boosts Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Check Capital Management Inc. CA lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 50.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 680,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 227,684 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group comprises approximately 0.8% of Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Check Capital Management Inc. CA’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $28,071,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% in the fourth quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,167,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211,375 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,460,000 after purchasing an additional 2,984,055 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $145,584,000. Munro Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $60,470,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 740.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,094,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $45,156,000 after purchasing an additional 963,917 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $52.56 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $54.43 and its 200-day moving average price is $52.46. The stock has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month 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 the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The business 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 business earned $0.40 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on JEF. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on 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. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.62.

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.