Hsbc Holdings PLC Buys New Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 58,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,934,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of Nova Scotia bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $3,509,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% in the 4th quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 132,263 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,196,000 after purchasing an additional 64,682 shares during the period. Check Capital Management Inc. CA acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,041,000. Fideuram Intesa Sanpaolo Private Banking S.P.A. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $2,941,000. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 808.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 36,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,506,000 after purchasing an additional 32,481 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.5%

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $53.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $54.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.79.

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). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.69%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on JEF. UBS Group dropped 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 downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.