Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.40

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, June 26th, Wall Street Journal reports. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 29th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th.

Jefferies Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 38.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $6.16 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.0%.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:JEF traded up $0.27 on Thursday, hitting $56.19. The stock had a trading volume of 4,392,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,705,077. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $50.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.05. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1-year low of $39.28 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.44 and a beta of 1.45.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.64 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A hedge fund recently bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group stock. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,856 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $224,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

JEF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Oppenheimer cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.00.

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.

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