State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Acquires 14,612 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 263,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,612 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned approximately 0.12% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $11,621,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Motley Fool Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $582,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.3% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 410,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,129,000 after purchasing an additional 16,909 shares during the last quarter. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $1,233,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.6% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 27,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,201,000 after buying an additional 1,451 shares during the period. Finally, Williams Jones Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the first quarter worth about $207,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares in the company, valued at $119,979,505. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $119,979,505. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

JEF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $54.45 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $31.38 and a one year high of $57.28. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $48.06 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $44.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a PE ratio of 30.08 and a beta of 1.34.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 59.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.30%.

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.