Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Cut to “Hold” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

JEF has been the subject of a number of other reports. Capital One Financial set a $50.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $56.86.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $45.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 0.98. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $52.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $51.27. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $66.60. The company has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $2.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 9.26% and a net margin of 7.50%.Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.01 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 2% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.84%.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Ramirez Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. CX Institutional raised its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% in the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Trust Co. of Vermont acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 665.4% during the first quarter. Basecamp Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides investment banking, capital markets, asset management and other financial services to corporations, institutional investors, governments and individual clients. Its principal operating business is Jefferies Group, an investment banking and securities firm.

Jefferies provides advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other strategic transactions, along with equity and debt underwriting, sales and trading, research, prime brokerage and securities services.