Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Sells 382,816 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC trimmed its position in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 15.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,048,009 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 382,816 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC owned approximately 0.99% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $160,564,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 71.8% in the fourth quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 140 shares during the period. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 14.2% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $96,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,960 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 3,844 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 6,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 179 shares during the period. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Jefferies Financial Group Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of NYSE JEF opened at $48.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The company has a market cap of $10.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.38 and a beta of 1.47. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 12 month low of $39.28 and a 12 month high of $82.68. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $49.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $65.00.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 26th. The financial services provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.88 by ($0.28). Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.92% and a net margin of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $1.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.87 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 8.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Jefferies Financial Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on JEF shares. Morgan Stanley cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $75.00 to $41.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Jefferies Financial Group from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.75.

Jefferies Financial Group Company Profile

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.