Altshuler Shaham Ltd Invests $47,000 in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,158 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $47,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 76.9% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 3,236,862 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $130,802,000 after buying an additional 1,406,920 shares in the last quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,435,000. Hosking Partners LLP raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.5% during the third quarter. Hosking Partners LLP now owns 842,947 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,877,000 after purchasing an additional 86,898 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 234,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,462,000 after purchasing an additional 77,131 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 26.4% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 120,035 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,397,000 after purchasing an additional 25,040 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 20.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $0.09 on Thursday, reaching $45.93. 728,628 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,043,058. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $29.33 and a 52 week high of $47.39. The company has a 50 day moving average of $43.63 and a 200 day moving average of $39.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.57 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The company’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.38 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on JEF. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.00.

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.