Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) President Brian P. Friedman Sells 393,397 Shares

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total value of $28,391,461.49. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,451,790.19. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $72.00 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $62.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $54.30. The stock has a market cap of $14.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.77 and a beta of 1.31. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $33.16 and a fifty-two week high of $72.76. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 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 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 59.83%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.5% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 34,562 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,127,000 after purchasing an additional 1,790 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 14,055.6% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 1,274 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 1,265 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.0% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 110,259 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,786,000 after buying an additional 1,086 shares during the period. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.7% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 299,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,422,000 after buying an additional 7,889 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $71.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd.

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.