Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by USA Financial Formulas

USA Financial Formulas lessened its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 13.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 733 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of JEF. Park Avenue Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 34,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,672,000 after buying an additional 9,582 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,905,000 after buying an additional 490,389 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $267,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $772,000. Finally, Harbour Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,222,000 after purchasing an additional 5,890 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on JEF. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, January 3rd.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $16,125,655.20. Following the sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $2,960,034.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares in the company, valued at $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 4.0 %

JEF opened at $74.38 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.77 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.33. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.15%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.