Quantinno Capital Management LP Lowers Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Quantinno Capital Management LP decreased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 31.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 258,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 120,771 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP owned 0.13% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $10,662,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth approximately $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,798,000 after acquiring an additional 17,935 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,420,000 after acquiring an additional 2,751 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JEF. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $55.73 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.53 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $55.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $51.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 44.69%.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.