Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) Announces Dividend Increase – $0.50 Per Share

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 3rd,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of 0.50 per share by the financial services provider on Thursday, January 16th. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. This is a positive change from Raymond James’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45.

Raymond James has increased its dividend by an average of 32.2% annually over the last three years. Raymond James has a dividend payout ratio of 17.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Raymond James to earn $11.53 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 15.6%.

Raymond James Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE RJF traded down $1.50 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $165.45. 1,245,567 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,142,131. The firm has a market capitalization of $33.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.00. 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 52-week low of $104.24 and a 52-week high of $171.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $145.46 and its 200-day moving average is $127.69.

Raymond James (NYSE:RJF) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The financial services provider reported $2.95 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Raymond James’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Raymond James will post 10.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RJF has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TD Cowen increased their price target on Raymond James from $128.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price target on Raymond James from $136.00 to $152.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. JMP Securities increased their price target on Raymond James from $146.00 to $150.00 and gave the company a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Raymond James from $123.00 to $126.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Raymond James from $140.00 to $152.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Raymond James currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $140.91.

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.