Pallas Capital Advisors LLC Invests $307,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Key Points

• Pallas Capital Advisors LLC has acquired 5,606 shares of Jefferies Financial Group, valued at approximately $307,000, marking a new position for the firm.
• Several institutional investors, including Alliancebernstein L.P. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., have increased their stakes in Jefferies, demonstrating growing confidence in the financial services provider.
• Jefferies Financial Group recently reported earnings of $0.40 per share, missing estimates, while declaring a quarterly dividend with a yield of 2.3%.

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,606 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 16.3% in the 2nd quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 69,289 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,789,000 after purchasing an additional 9,717 shares in the last quarter. Gradient Investments LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,002,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 51.2% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 10,359 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $567,000 after purchasing an additional 3,508 shares in the last quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Insight Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 82,194 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,567,000 after purchasing an additional 22,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kera Capital Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.7% in the 2nd quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 94,426 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,164,000 after purchasing an additional 12,115 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $72.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, September 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $71.67.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.21 on Monday, hitting $69.70. 1,365,056 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,526,461. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $39.28 and a one year high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a fifty day moving average of $61.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $54.82. The company has a market capitalization of $14.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.30 and a beta of 1.49.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 6.59%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 60.38%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.