BMO Capital Markets Has Lowered Expectations for Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Price

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $68.00 to $42.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.41% from the stock’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Oppenheimer decreased their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $61.00 to $54.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $39.47 on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99. The business has a fifty day moving average of $52.37 and a 200-day moving average of $57.16.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Boston Common Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,011,000. AlphaQuest LLC increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 927.8% during the third quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 26,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 23,474 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 245.2% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 651,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $42,603,000 after acquiring an additional 462,546 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 186.8% in the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 57,621 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,770,000 after acquiring an additional 37,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 50,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,301,000 after acquiring an additional 21,085 shares in the last quarter. 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.