Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) Receives $156.50 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) have received a consensus rating of “Buy” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $156.50.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on RY shares. TD Securities downgraded Royal Bank of Canada from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 15th. StockNews.com lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 1st. Barclays upgraded Royal Bank of Canada from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from $195.00 to $193.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 84,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $10,483,000 after acquiring an additional 4,980 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,504,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,118,150,000 after purchasing an additional 190,341 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 6.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 211,411 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,369,000 after purchasing an additional 12,693 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 13,622,472 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,706,833,000 after buying an additional 124,348 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Algert Global LLC bought a new stake in Royal Bank of Canada during the 3rd quarter worth about $706,000. 45.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Royal Bank of Canada Trading Up 0.2 %

RY opened at $119.97 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $122.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.21. Royal Bank of Canada has a fifty-two week low of $93.97 and a fifty-two week high of $128.05. The company has a market cap of $169.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.86.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 27th will be paid a $1.0522 dividend. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 27th. This represents a $4.21 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 50.85%.

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.