Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) Competitors

SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) and Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better stock? We will compare the two businesses based on the strength of their risk, dividends, institutional ownership, earnings, valuation, media sentiment, profitability, community ranking and analyst recommendations.

Which has more risk and volatility, SEIC or JEF?

SEI Investments has a beta of 1.03, meaning that its share price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.36, meaning that its share price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Does the MarketBeat Community believe in SEIC or JEF?

Jefferies Financial Group received 117 more outperform votes than SEI Investments when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.40% of users gave SEI Investments an outperform vote while only 53.80% of users gave Jefferies Financial Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
SEI Investments	Outperform Votes 379 59.40%	Underperform Votes 259 40.60%
Jefferies Financial Group	Outperform Votes 496 53.80%	Underperform Votes 426 46.20%

Do insiders and institutionals hold more shares of SEIC or JEF?

70.6% of SEI Investments shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by institutional investors. 14.3% of SEI Investments shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 20.4% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is SEIC or JEF more profitable?

SEI Investments has a net margin of 24.80% compared to SEI Investments' net margin of 5.90%. Jefferies Financial Group's return on equity of 22.91% beat SEI Investments' return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
SEI Investments	24.80%	22.91%	19.84%
Jefferies Financial Group	5.90%	4.41%	0.76%

Is SEIC or JEF a better dividend stock?

SEI Investments pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.6%. SEI Investments pays out 25.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 98.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SEI Investments has raised its dividend for 33 consecutive years.

Do analysts rate SEIC or JEF?

SEI Investments currently has a consensus target price of $71.00, indicating a potential upside of 4.81%. Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus target price of $44.00, indicating a potential downside of 4.70%. Given Jefferies Financial Group's higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe SEI Investments is more favorable than Jefferies Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
SEI Investments	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00
Jefferies Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00

Does the media favor SEIC or JEF?

In the previous week, SEI Investments had 6 more articles in the media than Jefferies Financial Group. MarketBeat recorded 15 mentions for SEI Investments and 9 mentions for Jefferies Financial Group. SEI Investments' average media sentiment score of 1.03 beat Jefferies Financial Group's score of 0.73 indicating that Jefferies Financial Group is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
SEI Investments	7 Very Positive mention(s)	2 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
Jefferies Financial Group	6 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Which has better earnings & valuation, SEIC or JEF?

SEI Investments has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Jefferies Financial Group. SEI Investments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Jefferies Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
SEI Investments	$1.92B	4.64	$462.26M	$3.66	18.51
Jefferies Financial Group	$4.70B	2.08	$277.69M	$1.22	37.84

Summary

SEI Investments beats Jefferies Financial Group on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.