Hsbc Holdings PLC Trims Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Hsbc Holdings PLC reduced its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 62.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,084 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,909 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.2% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.8%

Shares of JEF opened at $54.08 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.54. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $54.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $52.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on JEF. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group lowered their price objective 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 dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.62.

Trending Headlines about Jefferies Financial Group

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

• Negative Sentiment: Bragar Eagel & Squire said it is investigating Jefferies on behalf of stockholders and is encouraging investors who suffered losses to contact the firm, adding to litigation concerns. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP also announced an investigation into claims on behalf of Jefferies investors, reinforcing concerns that securities-fraud or class-action litigation could be ahead. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Other Jefferies-related market commentary in the feed focuses on analyst calls in unrelated names, including upgrades and target changes for Shopify, Deckers, Leidos, Pan American Silver, and Zealand Pharma, which are not direct catalysts for JEF. Article Title

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.