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

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 8th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 0.40 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, February 27th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group's previous quarterly dividend of $0.35.

Jefferies Financial Group has increased its dividend 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. 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 %

JEF traded up $0.53 on Wednesday, hitting $80.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,046,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,976,200. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.03. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $64.36. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $38.77 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The business had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.30 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Robert D. Beyer sold 46,200 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.07, for a total value of $2,960,034.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 100,375 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,431,026.25. This represents a 31.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the president now owns 1,632,277 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $106,424,460.40. This represents a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,286,923 shares of company stock valued at $88,999,151. Insiders own 20.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.

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