Check Capital Management Inc. CA Purchases 227,684 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Check Capital Management Inc. CA lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 50.3% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 680,171 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 227,684 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group comprises 0.8% of Check Capital Management Inc. CA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Check Capital Management Inc. CA owned 0.33% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $28,071,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,211,375 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $211,460,000 after acquiring an additional 2,984,055 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $145,584,000. Munro Partners bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $60,470,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 740.1% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,094,164 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $45,156,000 after purchasing an additional 963,917 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $52.56 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $54.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $52.46. The firm has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68 and a beta of 1.54.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $62.62.

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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