Natixis Advisors L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Natixis Advisors L.P. lowered its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 17.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,972 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,036 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $602,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Scissortail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the first quarter worth about $244,895,000. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.9% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 373 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 66.6% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 52,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,799,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BOKF NA raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. BOKF NA now owns 128,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,397,000 after acquiring an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 70.80% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $36.86 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a one year low of $28.34 and a one year high of $40.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $35.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $33.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99 and a beta of 1.43.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, June 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.22). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.23% and a net margin of 9.21%. The company had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 1.58 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Investors of record on Monday, August 14th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 218,792 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.85, for a total transaction of $8,062,485.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 16,673,452 shares in the company, valued at $614,416,706.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 134,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.79, for a total transaction of $4,803,626.43. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,744,184 shares in the company, valued at $563,484,345.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 218,792 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.85, for a total transaction of $8,062,485.20. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 16,673,452 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $614,416,706.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 578,320 shares of company stock valued at $20,948,017. Insiders own 20.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JEF. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TheStreet raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $27.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $39.00.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc engages in the investment banking and capital markets, and asset management businesses in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 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, restructurings or recapitalizations and private capital advisory transactions; equity and debt underwriting; and corporate lending.