Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $171.91 and last traded at $172.00, with a volume of 65509 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $170.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on RJF. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Raymond James from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $185.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Raymond James from $169.00 to $168.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. JMP Securities lifted their target price on Raymond James from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group raised Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $156.09.

Raymond James Trading Up 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.00. The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.20 and a 200 day moving average of $137.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $35.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.64, a PEG ratio of 1.03 and a beta of 1.02.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.41 by $0.54. Raymond James had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 13.86%. The firm had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Raymond James will post 11.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. This is a boost from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Raymond James

In other news, insider Tashtego S. Elwyn sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value of $1,594,700.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,688 shares in the company, valued at $5,212,755.36. The trade was a 23.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.43, for a total value of $198,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 80,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,625,730.03. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock valued at $10,729,488. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Raymond James

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Raymond James by 31.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,114,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,483,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898,242 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Raymond James by 0.7% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,974,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $976,587,000 after acquiring an additional 54,265 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Raymond James by 12.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,544,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $556,533,000 after acquiring an additional 488,245 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Raymond James by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,351,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,013,000 after acquiring an additional 12,869 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Earnest Partners LLC raised its holdings in Raymond James by 1.5% during the second quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 2,505,369 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,689,000 after acquiring an additional 37,173 shares in the last quarter. 83.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Raymond James Company Profile

Raymond James Financial, Inc, a financial holding company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the underwriting, distribution, trading, and brokerage of equity and debt securities, and the sale of mutual funds and other investment products in the United States, Canada, Europe, and internationally. The company operates through Private Client Group, Capital Markets, Asset Management, RJ Bank, and Other segments.