Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Shares Gap Down – Here’s What Happened

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)’s stock price gapped down before the market opened 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on 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. UBS Group started coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.53 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $76.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $64.89.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its 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). The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The firm’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.24%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 53.69%.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 1,632,277 shares in the company, valued at $106,424,460.40. The trade was a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,026.25. This trade represents a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151 in the last ninety days. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $286,476,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,232,280 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $210,591,000 after acquiring an additional 76,327 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $168,998,000 after acquiring an additional 389,385 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of 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 valued at $202,312,000 after acquiring an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during 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 during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.