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

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $62.6250.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on JEF. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, June 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lowered 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 research note on Thursday, June 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Smithfield Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. CX Institutional grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares during the period. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% during the 1st quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 692 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $53.13 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $54.41 and its 200-day moving average is $50.79. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99. The company has a market cap of $10.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.84 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by ($0.14). The company had revenue of $2.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.30 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.23% and a net margin of 7.58%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.71 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

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

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.