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

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at about $286,476,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the last quarter. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $772,000. Lisanti Capital Growth LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,718,000. Finally, Covenant Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $3,337,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the president now owns 560,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 value of $28,904,000.00. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.9 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $77.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.17. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $39.58 and a twelve month high of $82.68. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.30 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s 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.