660,454 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Bought by Deutsche Bank AG

Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 660,454 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $33,009,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 15,811 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,034,000 after buying an additional 206 shares during the last quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.2% in the third quarter. Punch & Associates Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $359,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Quent Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 5,994 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 50.0% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on JEF. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of 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. Oppenheimer decreased their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.62.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $52.35 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The company has a 50 day moving average of $55.34 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62 and a beta of 1.54.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The business had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.