Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) Sets New 12-Month High on Analyst Upgrade

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Desjardins raised their price target on the stock from C$230.00 to C$240.00. Desjardins currently has a buy rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada traded as high as C$230.99 and last traded at C$230.74, with a volume of 552200 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at C$227.86.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Cibc World Mkts cut shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on Royal Bank of Canada from C$225.00 to C$238.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Natl Bk Canada upgraded Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. CIBC raised their price target on Royal Bank of Canada from C$220.00 to C$229.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Raymond James Financial lifted their price target on Royal Bank of Canada from C$229.00 to C$239.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Bank of Canada currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of C$228.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director David Ian Mckay sold 91,288 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of C$228.75, for a total value of C$20,882,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,873 shares of the company’s stock, valued at C$1,343,448.75. This trade represents a 93.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of C$326.96 billion, a PE ratio of 16.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of C$212.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of C$196.61.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The financial services provider reported C$3.85 EPS for the quarter. The firm had revenue of C$17.21 billion for the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 28.23%. Sell-side analysts predict that Royal Bank of Canada will post 12.3454675 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Bank of Canada Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 24th. Investors of record on Monday, November 24th were paid a $1.54 dividend. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 27th. Royal Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is presently 42.93%.

About Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada is one of the two largest banks in Canada. It is a diversified financial services company, offering personal and commercial banking, wealth-management services, insurance, corporate banking, and capital markets services. The bank is concentrated in Canada, with additional operations in the U.S. and other countries.