Morgan Stanley Lowers Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Price Target to $54.00

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) had its price objective reduced by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $55.00 to $54.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "equal weight" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's target price indicates a potential downside of 1.79% from the stock's current price.

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

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 1.7%

JEF stock traded down $0.94 during trading on Thursday, reaching $54.98. 1,045,466 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,869,893. The firm's 50 day moving average is $50.02 and its 200 day moving average is $61.05. The firm has a market cap of $11.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $39.28 and a twelve month high of $82.68.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, June 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.04). Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 7.26%. The firm had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.64 EPS. The company's revenue was down 1.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter worth about $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 159.1% in the 4th quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 5,988,746 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $469,518,000 after buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 valued at $421,882,000 after acquiring an additional 2,094,191 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 57.4% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,941,692 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $309,029,000 after acquiring an additional 1,437,179 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $415,031,000 after acquiring an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company's stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.

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