Traders Purchase Large Volume of Jefferies Financial Group Call Options (NYSE:JEF)

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $224,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.1% during the first quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 45,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 80,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,302,000 after buying an additional 1,658 shares in the last quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 118,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,362,000 after buying an additional 2,220 shares during the period. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 87.8% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 798,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,749,000 after buying an additional 373,000 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $68.83.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock traded up $2.85 on Wednesday, hitting $59.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,474,459 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,992,307. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.62. The company has a market capitalization of $12.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.33 and a beta of 1.53. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52-week low of $39.28 and a 52-week high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.7%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.