Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (JEF) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 19th

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 26th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 29th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group has raised its dividend by an average of 13.0% per year over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a dividend payout ratio of 28.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $6.16 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 26.0%.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $54.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26 and a beta of 1.37. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $67.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.41. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52-week low of $40.72 and a 52-week high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.87 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $75.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th.

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.