The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Acquires Shares of 144,741 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 144,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,234,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,798,000 after purchasing an additional 17,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% in the second 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.1%

JEF opened at $53.13 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $54.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $50.73. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 payout ratio is 44.69%.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.62.

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.