Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Price Target Increased to $56.00 by Analysts at Oppenheimer

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) had its price objective raised by Oppenheimer from $54.00 to $56.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 29.57% from the company’s previous close.

Separately, StockNews.com raised shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 26th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $44.00.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of JEF opened at $43.22 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.43 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.91, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.50. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $28.81 and a twelve month high of $47.39.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 27th. The financial services provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.52 billion. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 5.90% and a return on equity of 4.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 35.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group will post 3.38 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Jefferies Financial Group

In other news, CEO Richard B. Handler sold 1,500,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.50, for a total value of $65,250,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 15,314,150 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $666,165,525. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 20.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 88.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 6,113,391 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $269,601,000 after acquiring an additional 2,876,529 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,405,866 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $178,046,000 after acquiring an additional 51,633 shares during the period. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 18.5% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 3,272,244 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,231,000 after acquiring an additional 510,125 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $88,852,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,707,433 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $75,298,000 after acquiring an additional 199,662 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.