Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Makes New Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,089 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $313,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,892,000 after buying an additional 1,529,218 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $58,211,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 15.3% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 7,049,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $350,799,000 after purchasing an additional 936,424 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth $21,148,000. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 12.9% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $168,998,000 after purchasing an additional 389,385 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on JEF. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total transaction of $12,618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 604,606 shares in the company, valued at $38,144,592.54. This trade represents a 24.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Insiders sold a total of 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151 in the last quarter. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.3 %

JEF stock opened at $79.14 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $35.05 and a twelve month high of $80.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82 and a beta of 1.31. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $68.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.91.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.32 earnings per share. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.77%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.83%.

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.