Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was upgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday.

Separately, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $52.00 to $54.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $43.33.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:JEF traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 727,174 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,068,454. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $28.81 and a fifty-two week high of $47.39. The company has a market capitalization of $9.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.70 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.30.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.11. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 5.90%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Jefferies Financial Group

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total transaction of $65,250,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 15,314,150 shares in the company, valued at $666,165,525. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 407 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $47,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $71,000. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 105.7% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,139 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $94,000 after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.