Atomi Financial Group Inc. Buys 352 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 352 shares during the period. Atomi Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $550,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $772,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,718,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $154,153,000 after buying an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $3,337,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 560,507 shares in the company, valued at $40,451,790.19. The trade was a 41.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $2,960,034.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $75.81 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $77.64 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $15.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1 year low of $39.58 and a 1 year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.