Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft Invests $358,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 4,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 45,350 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,555,000 after acquiring an additional 2,828 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 7,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $219,000. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 172,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,497,000 after purchasing an additional 8,706 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $326,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, 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 transaction 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 approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total transaction of $28,391,461.49. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of 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 Trading Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $77.15 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.58 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 1.35. 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 (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.98%.

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.