Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Shares Purchased by CW Advisors LLC

CW Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 218.5% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 26,582 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,236 shares during the period. CW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,454,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,990,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,374,000 after purchasing an additional 578,013 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $5,469,000. FORA Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 328.4% during the 1st quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 44,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,396,000 after purchasing an additional 34,282 shares during the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $610,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 161.9% during the 1st quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 28,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,492,000 after buying an additional 17,486 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 equities analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $59.16 on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.28 and a 1 year high of $82.68. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $56.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $57.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.40% and a return on equity of 7.25%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.98%.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.