Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.30

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 27th, Zacks reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th.

Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend payment by an average of 26.0% annually over the last three years. Jefferies Financial Group has a payout ratio of 28.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Jefferies Financial Group to earn $4.31 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 27.8%.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 4.4 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $44.08 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.18, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $9.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.13 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1-year low of $28.81 and a 1-year high of $47.39.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.42% and a net margin of 5.90%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.53 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Sunday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $39.67.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 18,482,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $607,163,000 after acquiring an additional 233,844 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 44.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 7,152,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $234,972,000 after purchasing an additional 2,207,065 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,753,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,997,000 after buying an additional 52,336 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 11.7% in the 2nd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 3,662,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,478,000 after acquiring an additional 382,838 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 201.2% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,328,739 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $109,350,000 after acquiring an additional 2,223,630 shares during the period. 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.