Venturi Wealth Management LLC Raises Holdings in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) by 1,966.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,088 shares during the period. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Raymond James were worth $504,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 31.4% in 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 buying an additional 2,898,242 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,974,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $976,587,000 after buying an additional 54,265 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,544,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $556,533,000 after buying an additional 488,245 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,351,684 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $531,013,000 after buying an additional 12,869 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Raymond James by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,064,349 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $130,340,000 after buying an additional 7,121 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on RJF shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Raymond James from $166.00 to $172.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. StockNews.com lowered Raymond James from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Raymond James from $168.00 to $176.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased 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. Finally, UBS Group raised Raymond James from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.09.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Raymond James news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 1,170 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction on Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $169.43, for a total value of $198,233.10. Following the completion of the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Tashtego S. Elwyn sold 10,000 shares of Raymond James stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,212,755.36. The trade was a 23.43 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 64,621 shares of company stock valued at $10,729,488. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Raymond James Stock Down 0.8 %

RJF stock opened at $159.61 on Thursday. Raymond James has a twelve month low of $104.24 and a twelve month high of $174.32. The company has a quick ratio of 1.01, a current ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $32.71 billion, a PE ratio of 15.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.93 and a beta of 1.03. The business has a 50 day moving average of $161.59 and a 200 day moving average of $144.66.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 19.71% and a net margin of 14.06%. On average, research analysts forecast that Raymond James will post 11.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Raymond James Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd were issued a $0.50 dividend. This is a positive change from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, January 2nd. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Raymond James’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.