Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation, ten have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$145.71.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on RY shares. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$159.00 to C$168.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. National Bankshares lifted their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$154.00 to C$161.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Desjardins lifted their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$142.00 to C$156.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$156.00 to C$160.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Bank of Canada news, Senior Officer Bruce Washington Ross sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.99, for a total transaction of C$2,819,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$33,133.12. In other Royal Bank of Canada news, Senior Officer Bruce Washington Ross sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of C$140.99, for a total transaction of C$2,819,840.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 235 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately C$33,133.12. Also, Senior Officer Neil Mclaughlin sold 14,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$146.26, for a total transaction of C$2,161,474.61. In the last three months, insiders sold 101,302 shares of company stock valued at $14,592,565.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of RY opened at C$149.22 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of C$210.40 billion, a PE ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 10.64 and a beta of 0.83. The company’s fifty day moving average is C$142.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$136.84. Royal Bank of Canada has a fifty-two week low of C$107.92 and a fifty-two week high of C$149.36.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 30th. The financial services provider reported C$2.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$2.77 by C$0.15. The company had revenue of C$14.15 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of C$13.58 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 28.61% and a return on equity of 13.66%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Bank of Canada will post 11.1525292 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 issued a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 25th. This is a positive change from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.81%. Royal Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is 51.54%.

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.