Empirical Finance LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its stake in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 6,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 79 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $965,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in shares of Raymond James by 3,960.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 203 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP bought a new position in Raymond James in the third quarter valued at $34,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in Raymond James by 121.0% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 232 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Raymond James during the third quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Quarry LP boosted its holdings in shares of Raymond James by 80.3% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. 83.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Raymond James Trading Down 3.1 %

NYSE RJF opened at $162.32 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 1.00 and a current ratio of 1.02. Raymond James has a fifty-two week low of $104.24 and a fifty-two week high of $174.32. The stock has a market cap of $33.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.03. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $162.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.59.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.31. Raymond James had a net margin of 14.06% and a return on equity of 19.99%. On average, analysts forecast that Raymond James will post 11.12 earnings per share for the current year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, January 2nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This is an increase from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.51%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Raymond James news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.43, for a total transaction of $198,233.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 80,421 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,625,730.03. This trade represents a 1.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Tashtego S. Elwyn sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total transaction of $1,594,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 32,688 shares in the company, valued at $5,212,755.36. This represents a 23.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock worth $10,729,488 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Raymond James from $170.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JMP Securities upped their price objective on shares of Raymond James from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on shares of Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Raymond James from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on Raymond James from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 10th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $166.09.

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.