Jefferies Financial Group Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:JEF)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors acquired 41,989 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 874% compared to the average daily volume of 4,310 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on JEF shares. Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.83.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 9.0% in the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,990,180 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $388,374,000 after purchasing an additional 578,013 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,749,000 after acquiring an additional 373,000 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter valued at $5,469,000. FORA Capital LLC raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 328.4% during the 1st quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 44,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,396,000 after acquiring an additional 34,282 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth $610,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $59.36 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $59.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $56.64. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The firm has a market cap of $12.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.40 and a beta of 1.53.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. The company had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.The business’s revenue was up 21.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.98%.

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.