Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) Competitors

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) and SEI Investments (NASDAQ:SEIC) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their institutional ownership, earnings, media sentiment, valuation, profitability, community ranking, dividends, risk and analyst recommendations.

Which has stronger valuation & earnings, JEF or SEIC?

SEI Investments has lower revenue, but higher earnings than Jefferies Financial Group. SEI Investments is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Jefferies Financial Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Jefferies Financial Group	$4.70B	2.02	$277.69M	$1.22	36.77
SEI Investments	$1.92B	4.60	$462.26M	$3.66	18.38

Which has more risk & volatility, JEF or SEIC?

Jefferies Financial Group has a beta of 1.36, indicating that its stock price is 36% more volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, SEI Investments has a beta of 1.03, indicating that its stock price is 3% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Do insiders and institutionals have more ownership in JEF or SEIC?

60.9% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 70.6% of SEI Investments shares are owned by institutional investors. 20.4% of Jefferies Financial Group shares are owned by insiders. Comparatively, 15.5% of SEI Investments shares are owned by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company is poised for long-term growth.

Is JEF or SEIC more profitable?

SEI Investments has a net margin of 24.80% compared to Jefferies Financial Group's net margin of 5.90%. SEI Investments' return on equity of 22.91% beat Jefferies Financial Group's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Jefferies Financial Group	5.90%	4.41%	0.76%
SEI Investments	24.80%	22.91%	19.84%

Does the MarketBeat Community favor JEF or SEIC?

Jefferies Financial Group received 111 more outperform votes than SEI Investments when rated by MarketBeat users. However, 59.40% of users gave SEI Investments an outperform vote while only 53.85% of users gave Jefferies Financial Group an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Jefferies Financial Group	Outperform Votes 490 53.85%	Underperform Votes 420 46.15%
SEI Investments	Outperform Votes 379 59.40%	Underperform Votes 259 40.60%

Does the media refer more to JEF or SEIC?

In the previous week, Jefferies Financial Group had 3 more articles in the media than SEI Investments. MarketBeat recorded 13 mentions for Jefferies Financial Group and 10 mentions for SEI Investments. SEI Investments' average media sentiment score of 0.91 beat Jefferies Financial Group's score of 0.76 indicating that SEI Investments is being referred to more favorably in the news media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Jefferies Financial Group	6 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	3 Neutral mention(s)	1 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
SEI Investments	4 Very Positive mention(s)	0 Positive mention(s)	2 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do analysts rate JEF or SEIC?

Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus price target of $44.00, indicating a potential downside of 1.92%. SEI Investments has a consensus price target of $71.00, indicating a potential upside of 5.54%. Given SEI Investments' higher probable upside, analysts plainly believe SEI Investments is more favorable than Jefferies Financial Group.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Jefferies Financial Group	0 Sell rating(s)	1 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	3.00
SEI Investments	1 Sell rating(s)	2 Hold rating(s)	1 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.00

Is JEF or SEIC a better dividend stock?

Jefferies Financial Group pays an annual dividend of $1.20 per share and has a dividend yield of 2.7%. SEI Investments pays an annual dividend of $0.92 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.4%. Jefferies Financial Group pays out 98.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. SEI Investments pays out 25.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend.

Summary

SEI Investments beats Jefferies Financial Group on 11 of the 20 factors compared between the two stocks.