Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) have received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the four analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $39.50.

JEF has been the topic of several research reports. TheStreet raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Monday, July 17th. StockNews.com started coverage on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised Jefferies Financial Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $27.00 to $36.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 12th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $40.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Tuesday, June 13th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $37.00 to $40.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 22nd.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $36.34 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $34.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.18. The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73 and a beta of 1.42. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $28.34 and a 12-month high of $40.80.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, June 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.27 by ($0.22). The company had revenue of $1.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.21% and a return on equity of 6.23%. The business’s revenue was down 22.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.46 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 1.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 14th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.30%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 11th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.86%.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 134,217 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.79, for a total value of $4,803,626.43. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 15,744,184 shares in the company, valued at $563,484,345.36. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 134,217 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.79, for a total value of $4,803,626.43. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 15,744,184 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $563,484,345.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman Joseph S. Steinberg sold 225,311 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.87, for a total value of $8,081,905.57. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 16,225,385 shares in the company, valued at $582,004,559.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 578,320 shares of company stock valued at $20,948,017 in the last 90 days. 20.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 46,016 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,526,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 18,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.1% in the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 15,163 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $503,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.3% during the second quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 122,297 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,057,000 after buying an additional 319 shares during the period. Finally, Scissortail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth about $244,895,000. 70.80% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc engages in the investment banking and capital markets, and asset management businesses in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. 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, restructurings or recapitalizations and private capital advisory transactions; equity and debt underwriting; and corporate lending.