Ervin Investment Management LLC Sells 59,044 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Ervin Investment Management LLC reduced its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 62.7% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 35,150 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 59,044 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group comprises approximately 1.8% of Ervin Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Ervin Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $2,756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $32,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $66,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $70,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their target price 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.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF opened at $75.74 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.84. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 1-year low of $38.77 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $15.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 7.97% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.11%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were 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 owns 1,632,277 shares in the company, valued at $106,424,460.40. This represents a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. The trade was a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,086,923 shares of company stock worth $76,381,151 over the last quarter. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

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.