** Jefferies says issues surrounding the extent of impact to Paladin Energy's PDN.AX stockpiles and open pit mining appear "more aggressive" than its prior expectations
** Brokerage downgrades uranium miner to "hold" from "buy", slashes price target to A$5.5 from A$8.5
** Paladin on Wednesday withdrew its 2025 production outlook, citing operational disruption at its flagship Langer Heinrich mine in Namibia
** Co says operational disruption due to "one-in-fifty-year rainfall event"
** Jefferies now expects FY25 production to be 2.17 Mlb, lower than its previous expectation of 2.8 Mlb
** Also adjusts FY26 production expectations to 3.39 Mlb, down from 5.12 Mlb
** Stock down 25.3% so far this year as of last close, lagging behind a 6.2% decline on the ASX Energy index .AXEJ
(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru)
((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com))