Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Raised to Buy at Wall Street Zen

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was upgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Sunday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 27th. Oppenheimer cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $50.00 to $49.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Capital One Financial set a $50.00 price target on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.86.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

NYSE JEF opened at $45.05 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.34 and a beta of 1.57. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $50.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $51.47. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $66.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Jefferies Financial Group announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $250.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. CX Institutional grew its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 77.6% during the second quarter. CX Institutional now owns 547 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.3% in the 2nd quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,347 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 95,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,933,000 after acquiring an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 8,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 146,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,051,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides investment banking, capital markets, asset management and other financial services to corporations, institutional investors, governments and individual clients. Its principal operating business is Jefferies Group, an investment banking and securities firm.

Jefferies provides advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other strategic transactions, along with equity and debt underwriting, sales and trading, research, prime brokerage and securities services.