Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 3,718 Shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 571,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,718 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $88,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RJF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Raymond James by 31.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,114,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,483,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898,242 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Raymond James in the fourth quarter valued at $294,647,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Raymond James during the fourth quarter valued at about $105,701,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of Raymond James by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,544,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $556,533,000 after purchasing an additional 488,245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Raymond James by 433.4% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 567,460 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,144,000 after buying an additional 461,069 shares during the period. 83.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. JMP Securities upped their price target on Raymond James from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group upgraded Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Raymond James from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Raymond James from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $161.00 to $185.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Raymond James from $166.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.73.

Raymond James Price Performance

Shares of NYSE RJF opened at $142.29 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $29.16 billion, a PE ratio of 13.88, a PEG ratio of 0.90 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $153.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $150.90. Raymond James has a twelve month low of $104.24 and a twelve month high of $174.32.

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

Raymond James Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be given a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 1st. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio is 19.51%.

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.