Versor Investments LP Purchases Shares of 5,852 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. during Q1, purchasing 5,852 shares valued at approximately $313,000.
• Jefferies Financial Group reported an EPS of $0.40 for the last quarter, missing analysts' expectations, with a year-over-year revenue decline of 1.3%.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share, resulting in an annual yield of 2.7%, set to be paid on August 29th.

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,852 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $274,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,822 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth $58,972,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 135.1% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 1,805,897 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $141,582,000 after acquiring an additional 1,037,785 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Tran Capital Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth $14,814,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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 note on Monday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 26th. Two research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of JEF traded up $0.77 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $64.84. 1,832,293 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,466,201. The company has a market cap of $13.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.47 and a beta of 1.48. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The stock's 50-day moving average is $57.51 and its 200-day moving average is $55.03.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. 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.