21,734 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Purchased by Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC

Key Points

• Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC opened a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter, buying 21,734 shares valued at about $897,000.
• Jefferies reported quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share and revenue of $2.21 billion, both below analyst expectations, though revenue still rose 35% year over year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 and a new $250 million share repurchase program, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Hold with an average target price of $62.62.

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 21,734 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $897,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% in the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $246,167,000 after acquiring an additional 3,211,375 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,812,615 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $236,268,000 after acquiring an additional 454,054 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,055 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $182,390,000 after purchasing an additional 24,171 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,607,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $161,595,000 after purchasing an additional 29,092 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on JEF shares. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Monday. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $52.62 on Friday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $53.81 and its 200 day moving average is $52.92. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a PE ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.

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