Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Bought by FJ Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• FJ Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 14.9% during the first quarter, now owning over 30,000 shares valued at approximately $1.6 million.
• Jefferies Financial Group recently reported earnings per share (EPS) of $0.40, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.44, with revenues also down slightly year-over-year.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.5% as of the latest reporting period.

FJ Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) by 14.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 30,148 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,912 shares during the period. FJ Capital Management LLC's holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,412,167 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $343,307,000 after acquiring an additional 246,578 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $274,627,000 after buying an additional 1,184,822 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 135.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,805,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $141,582,000 after buying an additional 1,037,785 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $58,972,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF traded down $1.50 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $63.47. 1,504,072 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,783,056. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $13.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.95 and a beta of 1.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $58.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.74.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.59% and a net margin of 7.70%.Jefferies Financial Group's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 60.38%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.