Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Rating Increased to Hold at BMO Capital Markets

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was upgraded by equities research analysts at BMO Capital Markets to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Telsey Advisory Group set a $74.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $72.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, September 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $72.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 1.1%

Shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $62.37 on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group has a fifty-two week low of $39.28 and a fifty-two week high of $82.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a current ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $12.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.43 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $63.02 and a 200 day moving average of $55.44.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, September 29th. The financial services provider reported $1.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.79 by $0.22. The business had revenue of $2.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.75 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.29% and a net margin of 7.40%.The business’s revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 20.6% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,261 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $148,000 after acquiring an additional 386 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 3.0% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 100,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,487,000 after purchasing an additional 2,951 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 230.1% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 126,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after purchasing an additional 87,841 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 40.1% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 11,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after purchasing an additional 3,334 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 9,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $522,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Jefferies Financial Group

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.