Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)’s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $80.13, but opened at $74.66. Jefferies Financial Group shares last traded at $72.44, with a volume of 859,265 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price 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.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $76.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.42 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.69%.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total value of $16,125,655.20. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares in the company, valued at $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,718,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.5% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 89,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,515,000 after acquiring an additional 28,011 shares during the period. Covenant Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $3,337,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.