Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Sets New 12-Month High at $59.30

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $59.30 and last traded at $58.73, with a volume of 49219 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $58.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 14th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.81 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $49.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.25.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.01. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.82% and a return on equity of 5.37%. The company had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.59 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 19th. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.30%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 55,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.30, for a total transaction of $2,546,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 2,591,350 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $119,979,505. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JEF. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 376.5% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 18,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after acquiring an additional 14,641 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 49.1% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 234,154 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,462,000 after acquiring an additional 77,131 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.2% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 25,306 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,023,000 after acquiring an additional 10,525 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 10,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 507 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $111,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.