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

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, June 24th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 18th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, August 28th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, August 18th.

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 payout ratio of 38.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.82 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 33.2%.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 4.3%

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $57.92 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57 and a beta of 1.54. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $53.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $53.34. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $35.53 and a 12-month high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.16 by ($0.14). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 7.83%. The company had revenue of $2.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.30 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $72.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Loop Capital set a $60.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Monday, June 8th. Weiss Ratings raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. UBS Group cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $67.00 in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.38.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.