Blue Trust Inc. Has $553,000 Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 39.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,009 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 157.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 802,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,905,000 after purchasing an additional 490,389 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after buying an additional 381,893 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $123,987,000 after buying an additional 344,409 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total transaction of $28,391,461.49. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,451,790.19. This represents a 41.24 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were 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 directly 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. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $77.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $39.58 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.75 and a 200-day moving average of $67.17. The company has a market cap of $15.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend 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.