Jefferies Financial Group - JEF Stock Forecast, Price & News

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. engages in the investment banking and capital markets, and asset management businesses in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. The company operates in Investment Banking and Capital Markets, Asset Management, Merchant Banking, and Corporate segments. 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. In addition, the company offers financing, securities lending, and other prime brokerage services; equities research and finance; and wealth management services. Further, it provides clients with sales and trading of investment grade corporate bonds, U.S. and European government and agency securities, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, leveraged loans, consumer loans, high yield and distressed securities, emerging markets debt, interest rate, and credit derivative products, as well as foreign exchange trade execution and securitization; and manages, invests in, and provides services to a diverse group of alternative asset management platforms across a spectrum of investment strategies and asset classes. The company was formerly known as Leucadia National Corporation and changed its name to Jefferies Financial Group Inc. in May 2018. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. was founded in 1962 and is headquartered in New York, New York.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $35.01. 784,396 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,651,784. The company has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.41. The firm's fifty day moving average is $29.75 and its 200 day moving average is $32.04. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $25.88 and a fifty-two week high of $44.47. The company has a quick ratio of 2.21, a current ratio of 2.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, June 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 11.76% and a net margin of 17.23%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 12th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.43%. Jefferies Financial Group's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.40%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 18th. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, June 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $33.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 28th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Rocco J. Nittoli sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.41, for a total transaction of $226,870.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Jefferies Financial Group news, VP Rocco J. Nittoli sold 7,000 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $32.41, for a total value of $226,870.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Thomas W. Jones bought 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $31.21 per share, with a total value of $1,248,400.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 55,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,746,574.02. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 17.90% of the company's stock.