Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Increases Dividend to $0.40 Per Share

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.00%. This is a boost from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35.

Jefferies Financial Group has raised its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% annually over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a payout ratio of 23.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.79 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.40 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 29.2%.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF traded up $0.53 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.11. 2,046,545 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,976,200. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.17 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.36. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $38.77 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a current ratio of 1.03 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 1.35.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.13 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $82.00 to $81.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Finally, UBS Group initiated coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 target price for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total transaction of $16,125,655.20. Following the transaction, the president now directly owns 1,632,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $106,424,460.40. This represents a 13.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total transaction of $2,960,034.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,431,026.25. This trade represents a 31.52 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,286,923 shares of company stock valued at $88,999,151 over the last three months. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.