Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Reaches New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Oppenheimer raised their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $66.00. Oppenheimer currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group traded as high as $60.73 and last traded at $59.67, with a volume of 1711025 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $58.54.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on JEF. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $88,852,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 78,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,161,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 29.6% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 2,142 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 49.4% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 262,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,603,000 after acquiring an additional 86,700 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 102,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,149,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $56.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $48.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.89 and a beta of 1.32.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.29 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a $0.35 dividend. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.35%.

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.