Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management Invests $219,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 172,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,497,000 after buying an additional 8,706 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $550,000 after purchasing an additional 352 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 12,202 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $423,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 393,397 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.17, for a total transaction of $28,391,461.49. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 560,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $40,451,790.19. This trade represents a 41.24 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $77.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $15.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.89 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.58 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick 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 the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The business 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. 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 2.07%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.98%.

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.