The Goldman Sachs Group Lowers Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Price Target to $47.00

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) had its price target dropped by The Goldman Sachs Group from $54.00 to $47.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 17.57% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $59.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 12th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $68.00 to $42.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, March 9th. Three research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $57.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Shares of JEF stock traded up $0.34 on Thursday, hitting $39.98. The company had a trading volume of 1,233,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,113,594. The firm has a market cap of $8.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.18 and a beta of 1.52. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $51.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $71.04.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, March 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.89 by ($0.19). The company had revenue of $2.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.02 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The firm’s revenue was up 26.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.57 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Salomon & Ludwin LLC raised its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Nvwm LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Jefferies Financial Group News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investment?banking strength drove revenue growth—total net revenues rose to about $2.02B and investment banking net revenues exceeded $1.0B, helping year?over?year profit improvement. Business Wire: Q1 Results
• Positive Sentiment: Board declared a $0.40 quarterly dividend (4.0% yield), a near?term cash return that can support the share price. Dividend Announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Takeover/speculation chatter has buoyed sentiment at times as investors revisit strategic options and potential bids. That speculation remains unresolved but provides upside optionality. Zacks: Takeover Speculation
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 headline results are mixed: revenue rose ~26.6% versus last year, but EPS reporting has been read differently across outlets (company reported $0.70 diluted EPS; some summaries show consensus comparisons). The mixed reads are producing varied analyst reactions. Business Wire: Q1 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Private?credit and small?loan blowups hit results: Jefferies disclosed roughly $17M in losses tied to two collapsed private?lending positions, which trimmed profitability and raised credit?risk concerns. Barron’s: Private Credit Losses
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also wrote off additional exposure (reported ~$10M related to First Brands), amplifying the headline that credit losses eroded some of the investment?banking windfall. Financial Times: First Brands Loss
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder litigation and investigator notices (Pomerantz, Bronstein) citing potential claims have emerged, increasing legal and reputational risk for investors. PR Newswire: Pomerantz Investigation
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst pushback: BMO cut its Jefferies price target to $42, signaling caution from at least one large shop and limiting near?term upside until credit and legal issues clarify. American Banking News: BMO Lowers PT

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.