39,042 Shares in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Bought by Kera Capital Partners Inc.

Kera Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 39,042 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,061,000.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth $286,476,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $168,998,000 after buying an additional 389,385 shares in the last quarter. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,014,387 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $123,987,000 after purchasing an additional 344,409 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at $106,424,460.40. This trade represents a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151 in the last ninety days. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE JEF traded up $1.28 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $75.74. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,636,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,397,993. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $38.77 and a twelve month high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $77.44 and a 200 day moving average of $65.74.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.11%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer lowered 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 report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.