Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,405 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth approximately $286,476,000. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 782.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,286,958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $202,312,000 after purchasing an additional 2,914,504 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,218 shares during the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $168,998,000 after buying an additional 389,385 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 95.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 780,877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $48,063,000 after buying an additional 381,893 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group 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 transaction of $16,125,655.20. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $2,960,034.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 100,375 shares in the company, valued at $6,431,026.25. The trade was a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $74.45 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $38.77 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The company has a market capitalization of $15.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.98 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.39. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 46.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer cut their price objective 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. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group 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.