4,576 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Purchased by Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft

Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,576 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 381,893 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on 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.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF traded down $0.22 on Friday, hitting $76.92. 1,194,597 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,760,195. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $77.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $67.32. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a PE ratio of 25.81 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $39.58 and a 1-year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.97%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.08%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total transaction of $28,391,461.49. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at $1,081,825,270.88. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.