Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.03 EPS

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $61.10 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $31.38 and a twelve month high of $62.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $57.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.04. The firm has a market cap of $12.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76 and a beta of 1.32.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. UBS Group assumed coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, 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 acquired at an average price of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.