United Asset Strategies Inc. Makes New Investment in Raymond James Financial, Inc. $RJF

United Asset Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Raymond James Financial, Inc. (NYSE:RJF) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 15,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,558,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Raymond James Financial during the fourth quarter worth $614,000. FORM Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Raymond James Financial in the fourth quarter valued at about $442,000. M&T Bank Corp boosted its position in shares of Raymond James Financial by 181.7% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 31,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,060,000 after acquiring an additional 20,322 shares during the period. CPC Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Raymond James Financial by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. CPC Advisors LLC now owns 8,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,314,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in shares of Raymond James Financial by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 107,794 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $17,343,000 after acquiring an additional 7,202 shares during the period. 83.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RJF has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of Raymond James Financial from $165.00 to $145.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Raymond James Financial in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Raymond James Financial from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Raymond James Financial from $187.00 to $171.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Raymond James Financial from $176.00 to $158.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $175.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Bella Loykhter Allaire sold 29,551 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.34, for a total value of $4,206,289.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 53,586 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,627,431.24. The trade was a 35.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.58% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Raymond James Financial Stock Down 0.3%

RJF stock opened at $154.14 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $30.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.00. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $150.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $158.74. Raymond James Financial, Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.85 and a 52 week high of $177.66. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.42.

Raymond James Financial (NYSE:RJF) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 22nd. The financial services provider reported $2.83 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.76 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.92 billion. Raymond James Financial had a return on equity of 17.65% and a net margin of 13.07%.Raymond James Financial’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Raymond James Financial, Inc. will post 11.73 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Raymond James Financial Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 1st were paid a $0.54 dividend. This represents a $2.16 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 1st. Raymond James Financial’s payout ratio is 21.14%.

About Raymond James Financial

Raymond James Financial is a diversified financial services firm headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida. Founded in 1962, the company provides a range of services to individual investors, businesses and institutions through a combination of wealth management, capital markets, investment banking, asset management, banking and trust services. Its business model centers on a network of financial advisors and broker-dealer operations that deliver personalized financial planning, investment advisory services and brokerage solutions.

The firm’s core offerings include private client wealth management delivered by independent and employee advisors, equity and fixed-income research, institutional sales and trading, and investment banking services such as mergers and acquisitions advisory and capital raising.