Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) Receives $133.25 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $133.25.

A number of research analysts recently commented on RY shares. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Barclays started coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 6th.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Up 1.5 %

RY stock opened at $107.53 on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada has a 52-week low of $77.90 and a 52-week high of $109.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 0.87 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.86.

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The financial services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.12. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 14.87%. The business had revenue of $10.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.95 billion. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.47 EPS for the current year.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 25th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 25th. Royal Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is currently 50.62%.

Institutional Trading of Royal Bank of Canada

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RY. LPL Financial LLC grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 30.8% in the third quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 108,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,487,000 after acquiring an additional 25,540 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 3.9% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 21,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP bought a new stake in Royal Bank of Canada in the third quarter worth approximately $1,167,000. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 26,666,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,330,506,000 after buying an additional 3,062,038 shares during the period. Finally, United Services Automobile Association boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. United Services Automobile Association now owns 236,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,649,000 after buying an additional 7,726 shares during the period. 45.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Royal Bank of Canada Company Profile

Royal Bank of Canada operates as a diversified financial service company worldwide. The company's Personal & Commercial Banking segment offers checking and savings accounts, home equity financing, personal lending, private banking, indirect lending, including auto financing, mutual funds and self-directed brokerage accounts, guaranteed investment certificates, credit cards, and payment products and solutions; and lending, leasing, deposit, investment, foreign exchange, cash management, auto dealer financing, trade products, and services to small and medium-sized commercial businesses.