Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) Hits New 1-Year Low – Should You Sell?

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Saturday . The stock traded as low as $38.17 and last traded at $38.22, with a volume of 7452365 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $44.28.

Key Stories Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies issued a public response defending its position, saying the loan in question was non‑recourse, was diligenced by the bank, and that the Point Bonita fund acted in good faith — a statement that could limit perceived legal exposure or calm some investors. Jefferies Comments on Western Alliance Bank Lawsuit
• Neutral Sentiment: PhysicsWallah will join a Jefferies‑led investor meeting on March 12 — a routine investor relations/deal engagement that is unlikely to move JEF shares materially but shows ongoing capital‑markets activity. PhysicsWallah to Join Jefferies-Led Investor Meet on March 12
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary assessing JEF valuation after the recent share weakness highlights that analyst targets remain well above current levels — useful context for longer‑term investors but secondary to the immediate legal headlines. Assessing Jefferies Financial Group (JEF) Valuation After Recent Share Price Weakness
• Negative Sentiment: Western Alliance sued Jefferies after recording a ~$126M charge‑off tied to a loan collateralized by receivables from First Brands; the suit alleges Jefferies declined payment under a forbearance arrangement — this legal claim is the primary near‑term catalyst driving the stock decline and higher trading volume. $126M Payment Dispute Sparks Western Alliance Lawsuit Against Jefferies
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP opened an investor investigation into Jefferies — a potential class‑action inquiry that can increase legal costs, create settlement risk, and sustain negative headlines even if the underlying exposure is limited. Pomerantz Investigates Jefferies Investors

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on JEF. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $78.00 price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 8th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.71.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Down 13.7%

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $57.47 and its 200-day moving average is $58.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.99, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73. The company has a market cap of $7.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.51 and a beta of 1.52.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a net margin of 6.56% and a return on equity of 7.27%. The business had revenue of $2.07 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Jefferies Financial Group’s quarterly revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 56.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Jefferies Financial Group

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Salomon & Ludwin LLC grew its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 75.0% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 413 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Smithfield Trust Co purchased a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Elyxium Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Jefferies Financial Group during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Root Financial Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Nvwm LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.