Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Monday. They presently have a $49.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 28.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on JEF. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday, December 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.57.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock opened at $38.22 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.89 billion, a PE ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 1.52. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $57.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $58.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. Jefferies Financial Group has a one year low of $38.17 and a one year high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The company’s revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Salomon & Ludwin LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% during the 4th quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 3rd quarter valued at about $30,000. Finally, Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. 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 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.