Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Rating Lowered by Morgan Stanley

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Monday, MarketBeat.com reports. They presently have a $41.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous price target of $75.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective points to a potential downside of 0.05% from the company’s current price.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on JEF. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. StockNews.com lowered Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $41.02 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.77. Jefferies Financial Group has a 52 week low of $39.28 and a 52 week high of $82.68. The stock has a market cap of $8.46 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 10.57% and a return on equity of 7.92%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% during the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $421,882,000 after buying an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,029,000 after buying an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,031,000 after buying an additional 1,127,335 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

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.