Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.28 EPS

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.88 by ($0.28), Zacks reports. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The firm’s revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.87 EPS.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 9.7 %

Shares of NYSE JEF traded down $5.87 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.42. The stock had a trading volume of 5,405,932 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,448,760. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The company has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.52.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 53.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on JEF shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

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.