Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 (NYSE:JEF)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 25th,Zacks Dividends reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th.

Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 31.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of JEF opened at $74.20 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71 and a beta of 1.31. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $34.34 and a 12-month high of $75.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $64.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $55.75. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, UBS Group began coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price on the 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.