USA Financial Formulas Sells 733 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

USA Financial Formulas trimmed its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 733 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 39.1% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 34,088 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,672,000 after buying an additional 9,582 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,905,000 after buying an additional 490,389 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $267,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $772,000. Finally, Harbour Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Harbour Capital Advisors LLC now owns 27,435 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,222,000 after purchasing an additional 5,890 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley raised 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF stock opened at $74.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $15.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.96 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $38.77 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.33. 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 (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.