Eastern Bank Takes $68,000 Position in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 440 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Raymond James by 1.5% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,228 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $528,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Raymond James by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 6,115 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $749,000 after buying an additional 82 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in Raymond James by 5.1% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 1,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Raymond James by 3.9% during the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 2,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MML Investors Services LLC grew its stake in Raymond James by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 22,467 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,751,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. 83.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RJF has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price objective on Raymond James from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $143.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped 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. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $136.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Raymond James currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $156.09.

Raymond James Price Performance

RJF stock opened at $156.89 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $160.21 and a 200-day moving average of $135.54. The company has a market cap of $32.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 1.02. 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 has a 12-month low of $104.24 and a 12-month high of $171.38.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Raymond James’s quarterly revenue was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Raymond James will post 10.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Raymond James’s payout ratio is presently 20.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Raymond James

In other Raymond James news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 3,451 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.62, for a total value of $571,554.62. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 80,421 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,319,326.02. This represents a 4.11 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction dated 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 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 have sold 64,621 shares of company stock valued at $10,729,488 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 9.74% of the company’s stock.

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.