Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades CBRE Group (NYSE:CBRE) to “Buy”

CBRE Group (NYSE:CBRE) was upgraded by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $152.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $133.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 15.59% from the company’s previous close.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on CBRE Group from $125.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded CBRE Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $120.00 to $163.00 in a report on Monday, December 16th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on CBRE Group from $123.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of CBRE Group in a research note on Friday, December 6th. They set a “buy” rating and a $176.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of CBRE Group from $130.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CBRE Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.33.

CBRE Group Price Performance

NYSE:CBRE opened at $131.50 on Thursday. CBRE Group has a 52 week low of $82.75 and a 52 week high of $142.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $133.92 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.94. The company has a market capitalization of $40.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.28 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.34.

CBRE Group (NYSE:CBRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The financial services provider reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $9.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.80 billion. CBRE Group had a net margin of 2.79% and a return on equity of 13.91%. CBRE Group’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.72 EPS. Equities analysts expect that CBRE Group will post 4.99 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CBRE Group news, CFO Emma E. Giamartino sold 1,815 shares of CBRE Group stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $131.34, for a total transaction of $238,382.10. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 70,154 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,214,026.36. The trade was a 2.52 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CBRE Group

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC increased its stake in CBRE Group by 85.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,587,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $944,435,000 after purchasing an additional 3,498,244 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of CBRE Group by 60.2% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 2,645,569 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $329,320,000 after buying an additional 993,963 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in CBRE Group by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,433,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,672,204,000 after acquiring an additional 692,697 shares in the last quarter. Eminence Capital LP lifted its position in CBRE Group by 42.6% in the second quarter. Eminence Capital LP now owns 1,518,203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,287,000 after acquiring an additional 453,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maverick Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in CBRE Group in the second quarter valued at $36,820,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.41% of the company’s stock.

CBRE Group Company Profile

CBRE Group, Inc operates as a commercial real estate services and investment company in the United States, the United Kingdom, and internationally. The Advisory Services segment offers strategic advice and execution to owners, investors, and occupiers of real estate in connection with leasing of offices, and industrial and retail space; clients fully integrated property sales services under the CBRE Capital Markets brand; clients commercial mortgage and structured financing services; originates and sells commercial mortgage loans; property management services, such as marketing, building engineering, accounting, and financial services on a contractual basis for owners of and investors in office, industrial, and retail properties; and valuation services that include market value appraisals, litigation support, discounted cash flow analyses, and feasibility studies, as well as consulting services, such as property condition reports, hotel advisory, and environmental consulting.