Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Rating Lowered to “Market Perform” at Oppenheimer

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by Oppenheimer from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Finviz reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on JEF. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $92.00 to $81.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $75.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Performance

Jefferies Financial Group stock opened at $58.44 on Wednesday. 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 1-year low of $40.72 and a 1-year high of $82.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.61 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s 50-day moving average is $69.13 and its 200 day moving average is $69.49.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 8th. The financial services provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.97 by ($0.06). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $1.96 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.83 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.30 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 63.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.41 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter worth $724,971,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,677,233 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 63.7% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,381,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $421,882,000 after purchasing an additional 2,094,191 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings 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 worth $415,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,127,335 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter worth $286,476,000. 60.88% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.