Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. Grows Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 172,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,706 shares during the quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. owned 0.08% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $13,497,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $70,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was 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. This trade represents a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151 in the last quarter. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $76.89 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $66.28. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $39.58 and a 52-week high of $82.68. 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 $15.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.80 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.08%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

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.