The Goldman Sachs Group Upgrades Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) to “Buy”

The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) from a neutral rating to a buy rating in a report released on Monday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $185.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $161.00.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Raymond James from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Raymond James from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. TD Cowen increased their target price on shares of Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JMP Securities boosted their price target on shares of Raymond James from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Raymond James has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $152.73.

Raymond James Stock Up 0.2 %

RJF stock opened at $159.32 on Monday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $32.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.02. Raymond James has a 52-week low of $104.24 and a 52-week high of $171.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $159.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.73.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. Raymond James had a net margin of 13.86% and a return on equity of 19.30%. The company’s revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Raymond James will post 10.85 EPS for the current year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This is a positive change from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 20.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 3,451 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.62, for a total value of $571,554.62. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 80,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,319,326.02. The trade was a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.30, for a total transaction of $8,365,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 283,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,364,303. This represents a 15.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock valued at $10,729,488 over the last quarter. Insiders own 9.74% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RJF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Raymond James by 31.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 2,898,242 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Raymond James by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,974,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $976,587,000 after buying an additional 54,265 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 488,245 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Raymond James by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,351,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,013,000 after acquiring an additional 12,869 shares during the period. Finally, AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Raymond James by 17.2% in the second quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 2,580,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $318,972,000 after acquiring an additional 378,033 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.83% of the company’s stock.

About Raymond James

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.