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

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

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on 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. Weiss Ratings lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Friday. Loop Capital set a $60.00 target price on Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $42.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $60.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock opened at $57.86 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $48.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $52.98. 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 $11.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55 and a beta of 1.54.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.89 by ($0.19). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.83% and a net margin of 6.61%.The business had revenue of $2.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.57 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Bison Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $224,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth $3,325,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.3% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 892 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 548 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 8.6% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 226,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,798,000 after purchasing an additional 17,935 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 11.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 25,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after purchasing an additional 2,751 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.