State Street Corp Decreases Stock Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

State Street Corp cut its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,975,291 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 149,318 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned about 2.42% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $306,229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. UBS Group started coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo bought 9,247,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were bought at an average price of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at $551,773,323.27. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president now owns 604,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,144,592.54. The trade was a 24.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,286,923 shares of company stock valued at $88,999,151 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $78.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $16.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.53 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $70.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.61. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.24 and a twelve month high of $81.08.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share (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 net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.32 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given a dividend of $0.35 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.78%. 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.