Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Position in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Vanguard Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,896,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 35,893 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 10.71% of Raymond James worth $3,401,150,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stevens Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Raymond James during the 4th quarter valued at about $276,000. LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in Raymond James by 12.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 97,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $15,175,000 after acquiring an additional 10,906 shares in the last quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Raymond James during the 4th quarter worth approximately $10,512,000. Intellus Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Raymond James during the 4th quarter worth approximately $867,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in shares of Raymond James by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 910,518 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $141,431,000 after purchasing an additional 16,739 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut Raymond James from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Raymond James from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $161.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Raymond James from $166.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, UBS Group raised Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $167.55.

Raymond James Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:RJF opened at $145.73 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.03. The firm has a market cap of $29.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.04. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $156.35 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $150.12. Raymond James has a fifty-two week low of $104.24 and a fifty-two week high of $174.32.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.31. Raymond James had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 19.71%. On average, analysts expect that Raymond James will post 11.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Raymond James Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a $0.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, April 1st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.37%. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.51%.

Raymond James 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.