Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) was downgraded by analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $65.00 to $61.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $76.00 to $71.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $67.00 to $57.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $57.00 to $50.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.86.

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $45.85 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $8.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56 and a beta of 1.57. Jefferies Financial Group has a twelve month low of $35.53 and a twelve month high of $66.60. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $52.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $51.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its earnings results on Monday, September 28th. The financial services provider reported $1.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.08. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 7.50% and a return on equity of 9.26%. The business had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.01 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group will post 4.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $250.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in JEF. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 5.9% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 182,934 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,143,000 after buying an additional 10,264 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 77.3% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 68,577 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,427,000 after buying an additional 29,899 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 25.2% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 4,646 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after buying an additional 935 shares in the last quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. increased its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group by 0.5% in the second quarter. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. now owns 617,122 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,844,000 after buying an additional 2,799 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 11,649 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $582,000 after acquiring an additional 5,341 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies’ expanded partnership with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, including SMBC’s 20% stake in the venture, could strengthen JEF’s Japan equities, equity-capital-markets and investment-banking reach. The deeper alliance provides a potential long-term growth catalyst. Can Jefferies’ Expanded SMBC Partnership Bolster Its Growth in Japan?
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies’ research activity remains broad, with bullish calls on selected healthcare companies and positive views on SSE and Cordiant Digital Infrastructure. These reports may support the firm’s advisory and research franchise, but they do not directly change JEF’s earnings outlook. SSE investment plan stays on track as Jefferies retains buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies analysts cited strong, broad-based AI demand and visibility through 2028 at their Fully Connected conference, while also warning that Roblox’s recent rally may have been overly optimistic. These calls demonstrate ongoing research engagement but have limited direct impact on JEF. CoreWeave capacity constraints bolster Jefferies bull case
• Negative Sentiment: Several firms have lowered their expectations or price targets for Jefferies Financial Group, including Morgan Stanley, BMO Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs. The revisions reinforce concerns about limited near-term upside and are the clearest negative catalyst for JEF shares. Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Jefferies Financial Group

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides investment banking, capital markets, asset management and other financial services to corporations, institutional investors, governments and individual clients. Its principal operating business is Jefferies Group, an investment banking and securities firm.

Jefferies provides advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and other strategic transactions, along with equity and debt underwriting, sales and trading, research, prime brokerage and securities services.