Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Price Target Raised to $50.00

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $44.00 to $50.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential downside of 13.59% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research raised Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $60.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 3.9%

Shares of JEF opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55 and a beta of 1.54. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1 year low of $35.53 and a 1 year high of $71.04. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $48.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $52.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 1.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The firm’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 422.0% during the 4th quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 3,972,352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $246,167,000 after buying an additional 3,211,375 shares during the period. Eminence Capital LP raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 3,812,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $236,268,000 after buying an additional 454,054 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 696.8% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,412,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $211,460,000 after buying an additional 2,984,055 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,942,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $182,390,000 after buying an additional 24,171 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,666,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $110,015,000 after buying an additional 58,585 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.