Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Sells 354,322 Shares of Jefferies Financial Group Inc. $JEF

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its holdings in Jefferies Financial Group Inc. (NYSE:JEF) by 12.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,578,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 354,322 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.25% of Jefferies Financial Group worth $168,697,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in JEF. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Jefferies Financial Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $107,356,000. Eminence Capital LP bought a new position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group in the second quarter worth about $79,958,000. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 6,056.0% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 949,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,905,000 after acquiring an additional 933,653 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Jefferies Financial Group by 45.2% during the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 2,082,840 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,911,000 after purchasing an additional 648,762 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP bought a new stake in shares of Jefferies Financial Group during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,395,000. 60.88% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on JEF. Zacks Research lowered shares of Jefferies Financial Group from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, December 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Jefferies Financial Group in a research note on Tuesday, December 30th. Morgan Stanley downgraded Jefferies Financial Group from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. Finally, Oppenheimer raised their price target on Jefferies Financial Group from $81.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Jefferies Financial Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.57.

Key Stories Impacting Jefferies Financial Group

Here are the key news stories impacting Jefferies Financial Group this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies says its exposure to UK mortgage lender MFS will be small — management expects a hit of less than $20 million, limiting potential capital and earnings impact. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Ongoing strength in Jefferies’ research franchise: Jefferies analysts initiated coverage on Uno Minda (Buy, target Rs 1,350) and maintained Buy ratings/targets on companies such as Thales, Constellation Software and Haleon — these actions support recurring advisory/research revenue and signal stable client activity. Uno Minda article Thales article Constellation article Haleon article
• Neutral Sentiment: Jefferies has publicly defended itself against the Western Alliance lawsuit — a necessary step but it leaves outcome uncertainty; the firm’s comments may reduce some investor fear if they are persuasive. Defense article
• Negative Sentiment: Western Alliance filed a $126.4M lawsuit tied to a loan connected to bankrupt First Brands, alleging breach and fraud — this prompted immediate market selling and raises litigation, potential indemnity or reserve risk. Zacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Kaplan Fox launched an investigation into potential securities-law violations at Jefferies — a separate regulatory/legal overhang that can increase legal costs, management distraction and investor uncertainty. Kaplan Fox article
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley downgraded JEF from Overweight to Equal Weight and set a $49 price target — a high-profile analyst downgrade can pressure sentiment even if the target still implies upside from current levels. Finviz note

Jefferies Financial Group Price Performance

JEF opened at $38.10 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $56.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $58.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.87 billion, a PE ratio of 13.46 and a beta of 1.52. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. has a 52 week low of $35.72 and a 52 week high of $71.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.73, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 0.99.

Jefferies Financial Group (NYSE:JEF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 7th. The financial services provider reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.13. Jefferies Financial Group had a return on equity of 7.27% and a net margin of 6.56%.The business had revenue of $2.07 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.01 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Jefferies Financial Group Inc. will post 4.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Jefferies Financial Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.2%. Jefferies Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.54%.

Jefferies Financial Group Profile

Jefferies Financial Group Inc is a diversified financial services company that provides a range of investment banking, capital markets and asset management services to corporations, governments and institutional investors worldwide. Through its core platform, Jefferies offers advisory services for mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity underwriting, restructuring and recapitalization. The firm also operates a global sales and trading business covering equities, fixed income and foreign exchange products, complemented by equity research and macroeconomic analysis.

In addition to its capital markets franchise, Jefferies maintains a growing asset management division that delivers customized investment solutions across public and private markets.