Empirical Finance LLC Sells 79 Shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its position in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 buying an additional 2,898,242 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 54,265 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Raymond James by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,544,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $556,533,000 after acquiring an additional 488,245 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Raymond James by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,351,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $531,013,000 after purchasing an additional 12,869 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Raymond James by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,064,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,340,000 after purchasing an additional 7,121 shares in the last quarter. 83.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Raymond James from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group raised shares of Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen raised their target price on shares of Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Raymond James from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $161.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.09.

Raymond James Price Performance

Shares of Raymond James stock opened at $162.32 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.00 and its 200 day moving average is $142.59. Raymond James has a one year low of $104.24 and a one year high of $174.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $33.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.03.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.62 by $0.31. Raymond James had a return on equity of 19.99% and a net margin of 14.06%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Raymond James will post 11.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. This is an increase from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.51%.

Insider Activity at Raymond James

In related news, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 283,110 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,364,303. This represents a 15.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $169.43, for a total transaction of $198,233.10. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,625,730.03. The trade was a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 64,621 shares of company stock worth $10,729,488. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.