American Trust Reduces Position in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

American Trust decreased its stake in shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF – Get Rating) by 15.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 443 shares during the period. American Trust’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $219,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RJF. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Raymond James by 80.5% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 5,629,875 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $618,780,000 after buying an additional 2,510,966 shares in the last quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA increased its position in Raymond James by 16.8% during the second quarter. Primecap Management Co. CA now owns 13,589,617 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,215,048,000 after buying an additional 1,951,233 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Raymond James by 1.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,689,564 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,383,900,000 after buying an additional 410,025 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in Raymond James by 14.5% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 2,762,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $246,992,000 after buying an additional 349,521 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi increased its position in Raymond James by 177.1% during the second quarter. Amundi now owns 451,796 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,441,000 after buying an additional 288,769 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Raymond James from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 12th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on Raymond James in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Credit Suisse Group lowered their price objective on Raymond James from $119.00 to $116.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 26th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Raymond James from $127.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on Raymond James from $148.00 to $125.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Raymond James currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $122.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Raymond James news, insider Jodi Perry sold 6,343 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $112.30, for a total transaction of $712,318.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,150 shares in the company, valued at $802,945. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 9.46% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Raymond James Price Performance

Shares of Raymond James stock opened at $88.02 on Friday. Raymond James has a twelve month low of $84.86 and a twelve month high of $126.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26 and a beta of 1.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.98, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $108.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.68.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 25th. The financial services provider reported $2.29 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.01. Raymond James had a return on equity of 17.78% and a net margin of 13.65%. The firm had revenue of $2.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Raymond James will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Raymond James Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.42 per share. This represents a $1.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 31st. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio is presently 23.40%.

About Raymond James

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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.