5,606 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF Acquired by Pallas Capital Advisors LLC

Pallas Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,606 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $307,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 13.7% in the first quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 6,808,340 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $364,723,000 after buying an additional 819,594 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.0% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,412,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $343,307,000 after acquiring an additional 246,578 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,822 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,972,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.67.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of JEF opened at $69.45 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $61.10 and its 200 day moving average is $54.73. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.33 billion, a PE ratio of 26.21 and a beta of 1.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.59% and a net margin of 7.70%.The business had revenue of $1.63 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 60.38%.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.