MetLife Investment Management LLC Sells 5,511 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

MetLife Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,511 shares during the quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $5,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,892,000 after buying an additional 1,529,218 shares in the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $58,211,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,049,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,799,000 after acquiring an additional 936,424 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,148,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.3 %

JEF stock opened at $79.14 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.06 and a 200 day moving average of $57.91. The firm has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a PE ratio of 33.82 and a beta of 1.31. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.05 and a twelve month high of $80.53. 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 results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share 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 net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.32 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.77%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.83%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151 over the last 90 days. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.