Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.35 (NYSE:JEF)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 25th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th.

Jefferies Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a payout ratio of 31.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.70 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.8%.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $74.19 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $34.34 and a fifty-two week high of $75.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The company has a market cap of $15.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.70 and a beta of 1.31. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $64.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $55.66.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by ($0.03). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 6.40% and a net margin of 9.27%. The business had revenue of $1.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.71 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.32 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley boosted 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 report on Monday, September 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $73.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In related news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total transaction of $28,904,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 14,971,288 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. This trade represents a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.09, for a total value of $12,618,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the president now owns 604,606 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,144,592.54. The trade was a 24.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock worth $88,999,151. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

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.