Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.35 Per Share

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 26th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30.

Jefferies Financial Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a payout ratio of 28.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.35 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.6%.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $48.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.04 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.79. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52-week low of $31.38 and a 52-week high of $49.75.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on JEF shares. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, June 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares in the company, valued at $119,979,505. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.