Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 3rd,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. This is a positive change from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Raymond James has raised its dividend payment by an average of 32.2% per year over the last three years. Raymond James has a payout ratio of 17.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Raymond James to earn $11.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Raymond James Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:RJF opened at $165.45 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 1.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The business has a fifty day moving average of $146.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $127.97. The stock has a market cap of $33.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.00. Raymond James has a 52-week low of $104.24 and a 52-week high of $171.38.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.54. Raymond James had a return on equity of 19.30% and a net margin of 13.86%. The business had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Raymond James will post 10.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RJF has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Raymond James from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Raymond James from $125.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. JMP Securities increased their target price on Raymond James from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.91.

Insider Buying and Selling at Raymond James

In other news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 3,451 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.62, for a total value of $571,554.62. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 80,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,319,326.02. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.30, for a total value of $8,365,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 283,110 shares in the company, valued at $47,364,303. This represents a 15.01 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 54,621 shares of company stock valued at $9,134,788 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.74% of the company’s stock.

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.