United Capital Financial Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

United Capital Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 11,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $557,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, June 8th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. 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 report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $52.51 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The stock has a market cap of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.67 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a 50-day moving average of $54.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.67. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $71.04.

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

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.69%.

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.