Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Research Coverage Started at UBS Group

UBS Group began coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $67.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

JEF has been the subject of several other research reports. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $62.29 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1 year low of $31.38 and a 1 year high of $62.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $56.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.80 billion, a PE ratio of 34.41 and a beta of 1.32. 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 (NYSE:JEF) last announced 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 return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 7.82%. The business had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.27 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.35 dividend. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.25%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo bought 9,247,081 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at $551,773,323.27. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $1,215,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter worth $199,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.6% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 6,765 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.3% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 23,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,190,000 after purchasing an additional 2,995 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 12.7% during the second quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 146,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after purchasing an additional 16,531 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

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.