Traders Buy High Volume of Jefferies Financial Group Call Options (NYSE:JEF)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors purchased 4,246 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 413% compared to the average volume of 827 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $44.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $65,250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total value of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 2,591,350 shares in the company, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Cetera Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth $267,000. PGGM Investments lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 41.8% in the 1st quarter. PGGM Investments now owns 65,874 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,905,000 after buying an additional 19,430 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $404,000. Algebris UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $2,154,000. Finally, Comerica Bank grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.0% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 90,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,971,000 after acquiring an additional 8,907 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.7 %

JEF stock opened at $49.76 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52 week low of $31.38 and a 52 week high of $50.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.55 billion, a PE ratio of 27.49 and a beta of 1.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $45.56 and a 200 day moving average of $42.88.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.30%.

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.