Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Short Interest Update

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) saw a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 2,980,000 shares, a growth of 6.8% from the October 15th total of 2,790,000 shares. Currently, 1.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,350,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.2 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,482,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $607,163,000 after buying an additional 233,844 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 44.6% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,152,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $234,972,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207,065 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,753,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $188,997,000 after purchasing an additional 52,336 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,311,211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $143,008,000 after purchasing an additional 13,743 shares during the period. Finally, Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,662,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,478,000 after purchasing an additional 382,838 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 70.80% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $35.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 1.00 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.92. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $28.34 and a fifty-two week high of $40.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.37 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37 and a beta of 1.45.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.32% and a net margin of 7.02%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 21.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 1.53 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, November 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 10th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 86.96%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. StockNews.com cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc engages in the investment banking and capital markets, and asset management businesses in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 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, restructurings or recapitalizations and private capital advisory transactions; equity and debt underwriting; and corporate lending.