Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Buys 25,299 Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) by 53.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 73,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,299 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Royal Bank of Canada were worth $7,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 valued at $1,896,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares in the last quarter. Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new position in Royal Bank of Canada during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,167,000. Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 16.8% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 4,298 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,903,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $516,224,000 after purchasing an additional 105,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 8,511,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $743,010,000 after buying an additional 106,461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on RY. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. UBS Group assumed coverage on Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. StockNews.com cut Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $133.25.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Performance

Shares of RY traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $109.34. 53,832 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,072,815. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $101.00. The company has a market cap of $154.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.86. Royal Bank of Canada has a twelve month low of $77.90 and a twelve month high of $110.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.03 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $10.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.95 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 12.12% and a return on equity of 14.87%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.47 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 25th will be given a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. 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 presently 50.62%.

Royal Bank of Canada 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.