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

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, September 28th. Investors of record on Monday, November 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Wednesday, November 25th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th.

Jefferies Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 0.2%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. Jefferies Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 38.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.77 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 33.5%.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of JEF opened at $47.15 on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $35.53 and a fifty-two week high of $69.93. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $53.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.97. The company has a market cap of $9.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.17 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, September 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 7.58% and a return on equity of 9.23%. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on JEF. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 11th. Capital One Financial set a $57.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Friday, September 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, September 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Thursday, September 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.88.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc (NYSE:JEF) is a diversified financial services company that provides investment banking, capital markets, asset management and wealth management services. Its principal operating business, Jefferies, advises companies, governments and institutional investors on mergers and acquisitions, capital raising, restructuring and other strategic transactions.

Through its investment banking and securities operations, Jefferies offers equity and fixed-income underwriting, sales and trading, research, prime brokerage and related services.