654,306 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Acquired by Man Group plc

Man Group plc acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 654,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $32,702,000. Man Group plc owned 0.34% of Jefferies Financial Group as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $53.12 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $54.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.82. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $35.53 and a one year high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. 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 of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.