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

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

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.5 %

JEF stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $61.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 261,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,206,146. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12 month low of $31.38 and a 12 month high of $62.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $57.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.04. The company has a market cap of $12.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.76 and a beta of 1.32.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.35%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo purchased 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $59.67 per share, with a total value of $551,773,323.27. Following the purchase, the director now owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at $551,773,323.27. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

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.