Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 500 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 75,852 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $5,947,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at about $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 490,389 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after purchasing an additional 381,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:JEF opened at $76.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55 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. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $77.67 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.52.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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 2.10%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 46.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the business’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 value of $28,391,461.49. Following the completion of the sale, the president now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

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.