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.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $47.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, June 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $33.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $32.00 to $28.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $33.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 4th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.50.
Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.1 %
Shares of NYSE:JEF traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $35.00. The stock had a trading volume of 3,693 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,206,493. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $25.88 and a 12-month high of $44.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04, a quick ratio of 2.21 and a current ratio of 2.21. The company has a market cap of $8.14 billion, a PE ratio of 7.99 and a beta of 1.41. The company's 50 day moving average is $29.92 and its 200-day moving average is $32.08.
Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, June 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.46 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 17.23% and a return on equity of 11.76%. The business had revenue of $1.37 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.26 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 29.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 2.93 EPS for the current year.
Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 26th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 15th will be given a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 12th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.43%. Jefferies Financial Group's payout ratio is 27.40%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group
In related news, Director Thomas W. Jones purchased 40,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $31.21 per share, with a total value of $1,248,400.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 55,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,746,574.02. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Thomas W. Jones bought 40,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 55,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,746,574.02. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, VP Rocco J. Nittoli sold 7,000 shares of the business's 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 17.90% of the company's stock.
