Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) Sets New 12-Month High – Should You Buy?

Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $171.19 and last traded at $170.9820, with a volume of 545164 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $169.83.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RY has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded Royal Bank Of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 27th. UBS Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Cowen upgraded shares of Royal Bank Of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 4th. Finally, TD Securities raised shares of Royal Bank Of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Royal Bank Of Canada presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $162.00.

Royal Bank Of Canada Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $239.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $154.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $143.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 3rd. The financial services provider reported $2.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.51 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $12.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.12 billion. Royal Bank Of Canada had a return on equity of 16.83% and a net margin of 14.83%.The company’s revenue was up 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.07 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Bank Of Canada will post 9.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Bank Of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, February 24th. Shareholders of record on Monday, January 26th will be given a dividend of $1.64 per share. This represents a $6.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, January 26th. This is an increase from Royal Bank Of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.54. Royal Bank Of Canada’s payout ratio is 44.07%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Bank Of Canada

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Royal Bank Of Canada by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,338,321 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $9,777,472,000 after acquiring an additional 1,329,637 shares during the period. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its position in Royal Bank Of Canada by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 31,812,382 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,184,220,000 after acquiring an additional 296,978 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,599,262,000. Canerector Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada by 20,412.0% in the third quarter. Canerector Inc. now owns 13,332,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,964,188,000 after purchasing an additional 13,267,800 shares during the period. Finally, Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec increased its holdings in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada by 3.4% in the first quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec now owns 12,656,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,423,464,000 after purchasing an additional 420,466 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.31% of the company’s stock.

Royal Bank Of Canada Company Profile

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY) is a diversified financial services company and one of Canada’s largest banks. Founded in 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the firm is now headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. It provides a broad range of banking and financial services to individuals, businesses, and institutional clients through a network of branches, digital platforms and international offices.

RBC operates across several principal business segments including personal and commercial banking, wealth management, insurance, investor and treasury services, capital markets, and global asset management.