Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Stock Holdings Boosted by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 6,056.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 949,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 933,653 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. owned about 0.46% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $51,905,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Elequin Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 117.9% in the first quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 549 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 297 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 48.8% during the 2nd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 912 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3,577.8% during the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 993 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 966 shares during the period. Finally, BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth $78,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 30th. Capital One Financial set a $55.00 price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, October 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.50.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $59.01 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $55.88 and a 200-day moving average of $57.47. The firm has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.28 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.22. The business 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 EPS. Analysts forecast 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 54.98%.

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.