Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Buys Shares of 23,139 Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 23,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,424,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of JEF. FMR LLC raised its holdings in 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. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 365.9% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,947,192 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $96,892,000 after purchasing an additional 1,529,218 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth $58,211,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased 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 worth $350,799,000 after purchasing an additional 936,424 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth $21,148,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $551,773,323.27. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on JEF shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 14th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $79.14 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $57.99. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.05 and a 12-month high of $80.53. The firm has a market cap of $16.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.82 and a beta of 1.31.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

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

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.