Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) has received a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, one has assigned a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $68.8333.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on JEF shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $84.00 to $74.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $69.00 to $55.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $107,356,000. Eminence Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 129.7% in the third quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,358,561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $219,717,000 after buying an additional 1,896,547 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 30.1% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,126,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $274,627,000 after acquiring an additional 1,184,822 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 1st quarter worth approximately $58,972,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 6,056.0% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 949,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,905,000 after purchasing an additional 933,653 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $54.60 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $58.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.90. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The company has a market cap of $11.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76 and a beta of 1.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.05, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.79 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 7.40%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.75 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 26th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.9%. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is 54.98%.

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.