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

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) released 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 business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.71 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 42.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.32 earnings per share.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $61.10 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $31.38 and a fifty-two week high of $62.98. The company has a market cap of $12.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.75 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $57.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.17.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo bought 9,247,081 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $551,773,323.27. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

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.