Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Sold by Ibex Wealth Advisors

Ibex Wealth Advisors reduced its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 85.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 6,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 38,628 shares during the quarter. Ibex Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $503,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after buying an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of 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. Morgan Stanley raised 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the company’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 in the company, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. This represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the president now directly owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $75.88 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $67.10. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.58 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.46 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 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 business had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.