Florida-based broker-dealer giant Raymond James Financial achieved record growth in both revenue and income for fiscal year 2024, according to the firm’s annual report released yesterday.
Net revenue for the fiscal year, which ended September 30, was up 10% and net income increased by 19%, the St. Petersburg, Fla.-based firm reported. Revenue reached a high of $12.82 billion and record net income available to common shareholders reached $2.06 billion.
According to its earnings report, the firm increased advisor numbers from 8,712 as of September 30, 2023, to 8,787 a year later.
The positive fiscal report was reflected in Raymond James’s stock price today, which was up 10%.
“Our record performance highlights the strength of our diverse and complementary businesses,” Chairman and CEO Paul Reilly said in a statement. “We are well positioned entering fiscal 2025 with record client asset levels, healthy pipelines for growth across the business, and ample funding to support balance sheet growth. We are focused on maintaining strong capital ratios and a flexible balance sheet to support our results in any market environment.”
Increases in business for the firm’s various divisions contributed to the record growth.
For instance, for the private client group, record annual net revenues of $9.46 billion were achieved for a 9% increase, and record annual pretax income of $1.79 billion was seen for a 1% increase over the previous fiscal year.
“The private client group achieved record results in fiscal 2024 driven by strong equity markets and net new asset growth,” Reilly said. “In the fiscal year, we generated domestic net new assets of $60.7 billion, a growth rate of 5.5%, as we remain focused on retaining, supporting and attracting high-quality financial advisors across our multiple affiliation options.”
For the capital markets segment, net revenues of $1.47 billion represented an increase of 21% over fiscal 2023.
“Investment banking results increased significantly driven by robust M&A and advisory revenues as the market environment became more constructive in support of transaction closings in the quarter,” Reilly added. “Our M&A pipeline remains healthy, and we are optimistic investments in our platform and people should drive growth in fiscal 2025.”
The asset management segment also was on board with record-breaking highs with quarterly net revenues growing 17% year-over-year, largely attributable to higher financial assets under management due to higher equity markets and net inflows into fee-based accounts in the private client group, the firm reported.
The banking segment was the only one to see some declines in the fiscal year.
Annual net revenues of $1.72 billion were down 15%, although the annual pretax income of $380 million was an increase of 2% compared with fiscal 2023. The bank segment net interest margin of 2.62% for the quarter showed a decrease of 25 basis points compared with the prior year’s fiscal fourth quarter and 2 basis points down from the preceding quarter.
On buyback activity, the firm repurchased 7.7 million shares of common stock for $900 million at an average price of $117 per share in fiscal 2024, leaving approximately $645 million available for common stock repurchases.
The firm reported total clients’ domestic cash sweep and Enhanced Savings Program balances of $57.9 billion, up 3% from both September 2023 and June 2024.
The cash sweeps programs have come under attack at Raymond James and many other financial firms. RayJay is the defendant in at least two lawsuits filed by customers who said the cash sweeps program does not pay interest rates as high as they should and that the firm is not acting in the best interest of clients.