Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) Receives $142.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) has earned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the seven analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $142.50.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on RY. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from $151.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 20th.

Institutional Trading of Royal Bank of Canada

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 16.7% in the 2nd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 20,232,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,141,681,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901,033 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 75.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,320,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $637,460,000 after buying an additional 2,708,534 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 40.5% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 5,039,171 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $508,739,000 after buying an additional 1,452,127 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Royal Bank of Canada during the third quarter valued at about $153,217,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,695,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,618,566,000 after acquiring an additional 964,898 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.31% of the company’s stock.

Royal Bank of Canada Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NYSE RY opened at $120.91 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $111.79. Royal Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of $79.12 and a 52 week high of $126.96. The stock has a market cap of $170.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87.

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported $2.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $10.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.40 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 15.17%. On average, research analysts predict that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 24th will be issued a dividend of $1.028 per share. This represents a $4.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 50.67%.

About Royal Bank of Canada

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.