Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Increases Position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,801 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 256 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $4,375,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth 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. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at $70,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $75.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $15.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $65.63. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52-week low of $38.77 and a 52-week high of $82.68. 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 (NYSE:JEF) last released 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 firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.97%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, 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 company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

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.