Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Declares 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 given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis 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% annually over the last three years. Raymond James has a dividend 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 Trading Down 0.9 %

RJF stock traded down $1.50 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $165.45. 1,245,567 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,142,131. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $145.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $127.69. Raymond James has a 52-week low of $104.24 and a 52-week high of $171.38. 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 $33.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.00.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last posted its quarterly 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 the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Raymond James will post 10.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on RJF shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Raymond James from $140.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Bank of America upped their target price on Raymond James from $136.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Raymond James from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Raymond James from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Raymond James from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Raymond James currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $140.91.

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.