Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Plans $0.50 Quarterly Dividend

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 21st, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 1st will be paid a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Tuesday, April 15th. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%.

Raymond James has raised its dividend by an average of 18.2% annually over the last three years. Raymond James has a dividend payout ratio of 16.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Raymond James to earn $12.01 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.00 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 16.7%.

Raymond James Stock Performance

Shares of RJF stock traded down $3.73 on Friday, hitting $151.34. The company had a trading volume of 1,668,568 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,355,326. The firm has a market cap of $31.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.03. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $161.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.74. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. Raymond James has a twelve month low of $104.24 and a twelve month high of $174.32.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The financial services provider reported $2.93 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.62 by $0.31. Raymond James had a return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 14.06%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Raymond James will post 11.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Tashtego S. Elwyn sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.47, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Paul C. Reilly sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.30, for a total value of $8,365,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 283,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. In the last three months, insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock worth $10,729,488. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RJF has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Raymond James from $132.00 to $145.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. StockNews.com lowered Raymond James from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Raymond James from $166.00 to $172.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Raymond James from $145.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued 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 price target 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.