Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Announces $0.40 Quarterly Dividend

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.65%.

Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 28.6% 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 Price Performance

JEF stock traded down $1.37 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $60.33. 2,814,466 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,432,147. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $67.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.58. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12 month low of $40.72 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.25 and a beta of 1.37.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.30 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th.

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.