Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.6250.

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $65.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $50.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Smithfield Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. CX Institutional boosted 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 50.0% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 672 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $53.13 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.41 and its 200 day moving average is $50.73. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12 month low of $35.53 and a 12 month high of $71.04. The company has a market capitalization of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.