Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Shares Gap Down - Should You Sell?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $80.13, but opened at $74.66. Jefferies Financial Group shares last traded at $72.44, with a volume of 859,265 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a "buy" rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, January 3rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market cap of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.80 and a 200-day simple moving average of $64.58.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The company's revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $2,960,034.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 100,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total value of $16,125,655.20. Following the transaction, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151 in the last three months. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of JEF. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,162 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.5% in the third quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 14,824 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $912,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares in the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,765 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $337,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% in the 4th 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. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 8,080 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 60.88% of the company's 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.