Caxton Associates LLP Has $1.76 Million Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Caxton Associates LLP grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 34.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,932 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after purchasing an additional 206 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,159 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $141,000 after buying an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% during the third quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $359,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on 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. Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.5%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $55.87 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.61 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $55.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.07.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The firm’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

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.