Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 24,183 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 1.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,404,248 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 24,183 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $57,953,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. First National Bank of Hutchinson acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter valued at $244,000. Calamos Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $301,000. Calamos Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth approximately $301,000. Check Capital Management Inc. CA increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 50.3% during the first quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 680,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,071,000 after buying an additional 227,684 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of Michigan Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.1% in the first quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 39,816 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,643,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $55.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.55 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $55.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $52.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.9%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.