Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Raises Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 55,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 256 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $4,375,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.5% during the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 14,824 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $912,000 after buying an additional 224 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 8,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $16,125,655.20. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151 in the last three months. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer decreased 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 Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE JEF opened at $75.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.77 and a 52 week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. 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 53.69%.

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.