Highland Capital Management LLC Sells 518 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Highland Capital Management LLC trimmed its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 518 shares during the period. Highland Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $1,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after buying an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after buying an additional 490,389 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after acquiring an additional 381,893 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after acquiring an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total value of $28,391,461.49. Following the transaction, the president now owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $77.15 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.58 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $67.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Jefferies Financial Group 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.