Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) To Go Ex-Dividend on November 18th

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 25th, Zacks reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.35 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 27th. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th.

Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend by an average of 26.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a payout ratio of 32.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.71 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.7%.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of JEF opened at $61.10 on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group has a one year low of $31.38 and a one year high of $62.98. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $57.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $50.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $12.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.76 and a beta of 1.32.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, September 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.78 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $1.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.71 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 42.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.32 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo acquired 9,247,081 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, September 19th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at $551,773,323.27. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

JEF has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $59.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.