Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03), Yahoo Finance reports. The firm had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 7.82%. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.32 EPS.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $61.43. 261,224 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,206,146. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $57.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $50.04. The company has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76 and a beta of 1.32. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $31.38 and a 12-month high of $62.98.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $551,773,323.27. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

JEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 13th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday.

Jefferies Financial Group Company 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.