Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 2,820,000 shares, a decrease of 17.1% from the January 31st total of 3,400,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,550,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.8 days. Approximately 1.7% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Alaska Department of Revenue increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.6% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 18,859 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,160,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $407,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 434 shares during the period. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.1% in the third quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 7,290 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carmel Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 70.8% during the 3rd quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 19,474 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 8,074 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 have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock traded up $0.34 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.75. 1,967,090 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,359,040. The stock has a market cap of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group has a one year low of $40.72 and a one year high of $82.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

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.