Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC cut its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 15.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,000,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 177,749 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $44,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,405,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,046,000 after purchasing an additional 51,633 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,236,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,802,000 after purchasing an additional 1,406,920 shares during the last quarter. Azora Capital LP purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $5,419,000. Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 92.2% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 376,597 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,608,000 after buying an additional 180,702 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jump Financial LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,638,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total value of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,979,505. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF stock traded up $0.56 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $57.71. 1,038,429 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,129,094. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.38 and a twelve month high of $58.21. The firm has a market cap of $11.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.96 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $49.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.59 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 7.82%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.29 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.30%.

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.