Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday.

Separately, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, one has assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.2 %

JEF traded up $0.09 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $45.93. 728,628 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,043,058. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $43.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.99. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52-week low of $29.33 and a 52-week high of $47.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.74 billion, a PE ratio of 37.65 and a beta of 1.36.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 4.41% and a net margin of 5.90%. Jefferies Financial Group’s revenue was up 35.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Naples Money Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Allworth Financial LP grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 56.6% during the 4th 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 purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $47,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter worth $71,000. Finally, CWM LLC grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 105.7% during the 1st 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. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.