Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Shares Purchased by Mather Group LLC.

Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 9.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $260,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Raymond James by 31.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,114,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,483,542,000 after acquiring an additional 2,898,242 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 488,245 shares in the last quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Raymond James by 191.3% in the third quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC now owns 722,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $88,464,000 after purchasing an additional 474,443 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Raymond James in the third quarter valued at approximately $34,105,000. Finally, Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Raymond James during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,985,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RJF. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Raymond James from $198.00 to $201.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Raymond James from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Raymond James from $166.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities boosted their price objective 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. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.09.

Insider Buying and Selling at Raymond James

In related news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 80,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,625,730.03. This represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.30, for a total transaction of $8,365,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 283,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,364,303. This trade represents a 15.01 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 64,621 shares of company stock valued at $10,729,488 in the last three months. 0.54% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Raymond James Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:RJF opened at $168.39 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $34.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.43, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.03. Raymond James has a 12-month low of $104.24 and a 12-month high of $174.32. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $162.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 19.99%. Sell-side analysts expect that Raymond James will post 11.16 EPS for the current year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.19%. This is a boost from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.51%.

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.