Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Acquires 963,917 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management boosted its Jefferies Financial Group stake by 740.1% in the first quarter, buying 963,917 additional shares and lifting its holdings to 1,094,164 shares worth about $45.2 million.
• Jefferies reported mixed quarterly results, with EPS of $1.02 and revenue of $2.21 billion both missing estimates, even though revenue still rose 35% year over year.
• The company announced a $0.40 quarterly dividend and a $250 million share repurchase plan, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Hold” with an average price target of $62.62.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 740.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,094,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 963,917 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.54% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $45,156,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,211,375 shares during the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% in the fourth quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,812,615 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $236,268,000 after buying an additional 454,054 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $211,460,000 after buying an additional 2,984,055 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $182,390,000 after buying an additional 24,171 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,607,512 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $161,595,000 after buying an additional 29,092 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Thursday. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $52.39 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The firm has a market cap of $10.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.63 and a beta of 1.54. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $53.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.30. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.05%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Key Jefferies Financial Group News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investment banking revenue surged 57% year over year to about $1.21 billion, and equities revenue hit a quarterly record, showing strong dealmaking and trading momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: The board approved a $250 million share repurchase plan, which can support the stock by signaling management believes the shares are undervalued.
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, reinforcing capital return to shareholders.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company said its Hildene investment is expected to close in the third quarter, which could help results later but was not enough to offset near-term investor concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Second-quarter EPS came in at $1.02, below consensus estimates, and revenue of about $2.21 billion also missed expectations, triggering a sell-off focused on weaker-than-expected profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: Asset-management fees and investment return revenue fell 35% year over year, suggesting softness outside the core banking and trading businesses.
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors appear to be taking profits after a strong run in capital-markets-related shares, implying that much of the upbeat banking performance may already have been priced in.

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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