LMR Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 7,800 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

LMR Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 7,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.7% in the second quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 520 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1,993.8% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 638 shares during the period. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total transaction of $12,618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 604,606 shares in the company, valued at $38,144,592.54. The trade was a 24.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.1 %

JEF opened at $74.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.91 and a beta of 1.31. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $34.34 and a 12-month high of $75.81. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.25.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.32 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 59.83%.

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.