Jefferies Financial Group price target raised to $45 from $40 at Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer raised the firm’s price target on Jefferies Financial Group to $45 from $40 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. While it was an active quarter for Jefferies highlighted by the announcement of the expansion of its strategic alliance with and ownership by SMBC on April 27th, it is undoubtedly a quiet time in the markets, the firm notes. The good news is that high yield underwriting in the timeframe of Jefferies’ Q2 was up 92% year-over-year and equities up 133%, but the bad news is that they’re down 72% and 74% from 2021, respectively, and even 50%+ from 2020.