Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Receives Average Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus analyst rating of “Hold”, based on seven covering analysts. The average 12-month price target is about $62.63.
• The company recently posted mixed quarterly results, with EPS of $1.02 versus expectations of $1.16 and revenue of $2.21 billion versus the $2.30 billion estimate, though revenue still rose 35% year over year.
• Jefferies announced a quarterly dividend of $0.40 per share and a $250 million share repurchase program, signaling continued capital returns to shareholders.

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.6250.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Oppenheimer lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 9th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.0%

JEF stock opened at $52.62 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $53.81 and a 200-day moving average of $52.92. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $71.04. The company has a market capitalization of $10.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.70 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The company's revenue was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, August 18th. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is presently 44.69%.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 300.0% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 928 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 696 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% during the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. Western Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $358,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 6.4% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 38,678 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,596,000 after purchasing an additional 2,331 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.

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