Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Downgraded by Oppenheimer to Market Perform

Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) from an outperform rating to a market perform rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 13th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE JEF opened at $59.31 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $68.71 and its 200-day moving average is $69.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90 and a beta of 1.37. Jefferies Financial Group has a one year low of $40.72 and a one year high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its 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). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.30 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. This is an increase from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 53.69%.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 925.4% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $203,000 after buying an additional 2,332 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $286,476,000. Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $772,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,504,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $154,153,000 after acquiring an additional 167,270 shares during the period. Finally, Plato Investment Management Ltd bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $788,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.