M&T Bank Corp Buys 809,115 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 2,644.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 839,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 809,115 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp owned approximately 0.41% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $52,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $30,000. Nvwm LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, First Horizon Corp increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Morgan Stanley cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $47.00 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $71.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $44.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $53.59. The stock has a market cap of $9.61 billion, a PE ratio of 15.88 and a beta of 1.52.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.05%.

Key Jefferies Financial Group News

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies’ analysts published a flurry of research notes and rating actions on European and global companies (L’Oréal, Lottomatica, Scandic, Reckitt, Pinewood, Metso Outotec, Evolution, Temenos, Diagnostyka, THG) and media coverage of Jefferies’ views on IBM and Groww. These items reflect ongoing research and deal coverage but are not direct drivers of JEF’s share price.
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• Negative Sentiment: Q1 earnings performance remains a headwind — Jefferies reported Q1 EPS of $0.70 vs. consensus $0.89 (revenue roughly in line but EPS miss), and profitability metrics and lower moving averages have kept sentiment cautious. This fundamental earnings miss is a direct negative for JEF shares.
• Negative Sentiment: Investor litigation notice: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Jefferies investors, a development that tends to increase legal and reputational risk and can weigh on the stock. Read More.

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.