Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Given New $42.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) had its price target reduced by BMO Capital Markets from $68.00 to $42.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on JEF. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group lowered their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lowered Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, March 9th. Zacks Research cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer decreased their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $97.00 to $74.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $58.14.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

NYSE:JEF opened at $39.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 0.99 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $56.98. Jefferies Financial Group has a 1-year low of $35.53 and a 1-year high of $71.04. The firm has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.95 and a beta of 1.52.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.01 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 56.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in JEF. Bison Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at about $224,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 151.5% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 259,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $14,194,000 after acquiring an additional 156,346 shares during the last quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $322,000. Prudential Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 148.6% in the 2nd quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 49,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,693,000 after acquiring an additional 29,430 shares during the period. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 14,475 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.