Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Price Target Raised to $55.00 at Morgan Stanley

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $41.00 to $55.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price would indicate a potential downside of 2.12% from the stock's previous close.

JEF has been the topic of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $66.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

JEF stock traded up $0.27 on Monday, hitting $56.19. The company had a trading volume of 4,392,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,704,607. Jefferies Financial Group has a 12-month low of $39.28 and a 12-month high of $82.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $50.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.05. The stock has a market cap of $11.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21 and a beta of 1.45.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.70% and a return on equity of 6.62%. Jefferies Financial Group's quarterly revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $96,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 2,842 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $223,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 12.8% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 2,030 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 230 shares during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 33,087 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,594,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by 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.