660,454 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Acquired by Deutsche Bank AG

Key Points

• Deutsche Bank acquired 660,454 shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter, worth approximately $33 million and representing about 0.34% of the company. Institutional investors collectively own 60.88% of JEF.
• Analysts maintain a generally neutral outlook, with an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.62. Recent targets range from $50 to $65, despite several firms raising their estimates.
• Jefferies reported quarterly earnings of $1.02 per share, below the $1.16 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 35% year over year to $2.21 billion. The company declared a $0.40 quarterly dividend and authorized a $250 million share-repurchase program.

Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 660,454 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $33,009,000. Deutsche Bank AG owned approximately 0.34% of Jefferies Financial Group at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,211,375 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP increased its stake in 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 worth $236,268,000 after acquiring an additional 454,054 shares during the period. 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 valued at $211,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,055 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $182,390,000 after acquiring an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,666,097 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $110,015,000 after acquiring an additional 58,585 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $52.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $55.34 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.99. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.54.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). The business 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 business's revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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 is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

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

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.

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