Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on JEF. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $75.00 to $41.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.3%

JEF opened at $54.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.18 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18 and a beta of 1.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $50.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.07 and a quick ratio of 1.07. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 earnings per share 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 8.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $724,971,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 4.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,412,167 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $343,307,000 after purchasing an additional 246,578 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $469,518,000 after acquiring an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,293,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.