Friedenthal Financial Purchases New Stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 9,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $772,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1,601.0% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 37,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 35,510 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $80,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 42.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 221,396 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,017,000 after purchasing an additional 65,962 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 2,363 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 560,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of JEF stock traded down $0.54 during trading on Monday, reaching $70.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,022,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,510,420. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.77 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $76.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.02. The company has a market capitalization of $14.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.32 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 53.69%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of 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 target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. UBS Group assumed coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their price target 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 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.