Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Releases Earnings Results, Misses Expectations By $0.06 EPS

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.97 by ($0.06), Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $1.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.83 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.27% and a return on equity of 6.40%. The business’s revenue was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.30 EPS.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $80.11. 1,925,799 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,880,279. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $76.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $64.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.24 and a beta of 1.35. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1-year low of $38.77 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53.

Insider Activity

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, President Brian P. Friedman sold 247,326 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.20, for a total value of $16,125,655.20. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 1,632,277 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $106,424,460.40. This trade represents a 13.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 400,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.26, for a total value of $28,904,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 14,971,288 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,081,825,270.88. The trade was a 2.60 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 in the last quarter. 20.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. They set a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer cut their target price on 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, Morgan Stanley upgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $67.00 to $97.00 in a research note on Monday, December 9th.

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.