Point72 Asset Management L.P. Makes New Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,999 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $123,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,218 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 15.3% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,049,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $350,799,000 after purchasing an additional 936,424 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,148,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.9% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,998,000 after purchasing an additional 389,385 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $80.90 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $37.95 and a fifty-two week high of $81.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.57 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. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $60.14.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.73%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.83%.

Insider Activity

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total value of $12,618,000.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 604,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,144,592.54. This represents a 24.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,286,923 shares of company stock valued at $88,999,151 in the last ninety days. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock.

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.