Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) Shares Cross Above 200-Day Moving Average – Here’s Why

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY)’s stock price passed above its two hundred day moving average during trading on Friday . The stock has a two hundred day moving average of C$200.75 and traded as high as C$235.23. Royal Bank of Canada shares last traded at C$234.57, with a volume of 1,902,518 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RY. TD Securities raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from C$215.00 to C$246.00 in a report on Thursday, December 4th. National Bankshares upgraded Royal Bank of Canada from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from C$203.00 to C$231.00 in a research report on Monday, November 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Royal Bank of Canada from C$229.00 to C$245.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Cibc World Mkts lowered Royal Bank of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of C$228.92.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Up 0.2%

The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$218.67 and a 200 day moving average of C$200.75. The stock has a market cap of C$329.57 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 1.29.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, December 3rd. The financial services provider reported C$3.85 EPS for the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada had a return on equity of 13.27% and a net margin of 28.23%.The firm had revenue of C$17.21 billion for the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Bank of Canada will post 12.3454675 EPS for the current year.

Royal Bank of Canada Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Ian Mckay sold 91,288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$228.75, for a total transaction of C$20,882,130.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,873 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$1,343,448.75. The trade was a 93.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock.

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.