Jefferies Financial Group Inc (NYSE:JEF) on Monday posted better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.

The company posted reported quarterly earnings of $1.09 per share which beat the analyst consensus estimate of 93 cents per share. The company reported quarterly sales of $2.222 billion which beat the analyst consensus estimate of $2.174 billion.

“We believe the results of our third quarter demonstrate the strength and momentum of our business and are a strong foundation on which we can continue to build in future periods. We are very optimistic about the trajectory of Jefferies and our ability to achieve meaningfully higher operating margins and earnings as we complete the sale of Tessellis and continue to wind down the remainder of our legacy merchant banking investments. We are keenly focused on improving the consistency and quality of our earnings,” said Richard Handler, CEO, and Brian Friedman, President.

Jefferies Financial shares fell 1.4% to trade at $46.45 on Tuesday.

These analysts made changes to their price targets on Jefferies Financial following earnings announcement.

  • BMO Capital analyst Brennan Hawken maintained the stock with a Market Perform and lowered the price target from $57 to $50.
  • Goldman Sachs analyst James Yaro maintained the stock with a Buy and cut the price target from $67 to $57.
  • Morgan Stanley analyst Ryan Kenny maintained the stock with an Equal-Weight rating and lowered the price target from $50 to $49.

Considering buying JEF stock? Here’s what analysts think:

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