Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) Shares Acquired by Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 12.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,396,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 389,385 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in Jefferies Financial Group were worth $168,998,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of JEF. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $88,852,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 78,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,161,000 after buying an additional 1,090 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Jefferies Financial Group by 29.6% in the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 9,384 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 2,142 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its stake in Jefferies Financial Group by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 262,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,603,000 after buying an additional 86,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 102,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,149,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 60.88% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a report on Tuesday, September 17th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $67.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com cut Jefferies Financial Group from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, June 21st. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Jefferies Financial Group from $44.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 23rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Jefferies Financial Group from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th.

Jefferies Financial Group Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:JEF opened at $62.07 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $57.12 and a 200-day moving average of $49.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $12.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.29 and a beta of 1.32. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a twelve month low of $31.38 and a twelve month high of $62.67.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, June 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.01. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 5.37% and a net margin of 7.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.66 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.29 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 59.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 3.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.35 per share. This is a positive change from Jefferies Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.30. This represents a $1.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Jefferies Financial Group news, Director Mitsui Financial Grou Sumitomo acquired 9,247,081 shares of Jefferies Financial Group stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 19th. The stock was bought at an average price of $59.67 per share, for a total transaction of $551,773,323.27. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,247,081 shares in the company, valued at approximately $551,773,323.27. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 20.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group Inc operates as an investment banking and capital markets firm in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates in two segments, Investment Banking and Capital Markets, and Asset Management. It provides investment banking, advisory services with respect to mergers or acquisitions, debt financing, restructurings or recapitalizations, and private capital advisory transactions; underwriting and placement services related to corporate debt, municipal bonds, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, equity and equity-linked securities, and loan syndication services; and corporate lending services.