Caxton Associates LP Takes Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Caxton Associates LP acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 40,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,779,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Naples Money Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $47,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 105.7% during the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the sale, the president now owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.2 %

Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.69 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $57.84. The stock had a trading volume of 282,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,123,743. The stock has a market cap of $11.89 billion, a PE ratio of 31.57 and a beta of 1.34. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $31.38 and a 52 week high of $58.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $49.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $45.03.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The company’s revenue was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. Analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.30%.

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.