Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Announces Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The firm’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:JEF traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.11. 1,925,799 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,880,279. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 1.35. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $76.17 and its 200-day moving average is $64.36. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $38.77 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on JEF. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total value of $12,618,000.00. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 604,606 shares in the company, valued at approximately $38,144,592.54. The trade was a 24.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

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.