Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Announces Earnings Results

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.57 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.31), Briefing.com reports. The firm had revenue of $1.59 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 earnings per share.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 9.0 %

Shares of NYSE JEF traded down $5.42 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.87. The stock had a trading volume of 1,450,179 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,433,572. 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 company has a market cap of $11.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.45 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $40.72 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $67.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.52.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.92%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on Jefferies Financial Group in a research 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.