AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Lowers Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc reduced its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 34.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 255,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 134,218 shares during the quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc owned about 0.12% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $20,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 158.3% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at about $42,000. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 68.1% in the third quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter worth about $70,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer cut their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a report on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,424,460.40. This represents a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,431,026.25. The trade was a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,086,923 shares of company stock valued at $76,381,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.4 %

JEF opened at $76.15 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $77.67 and a 200 day moving average of $66.52. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.58 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $15.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.55 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.30 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.55 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.10%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 46.98%.

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.