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

Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $179.70 and last traded at $179.7160, with a volume of 2343985 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $178.44.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RY has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research cut shares of Royal Bank Of Canada from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report on Friday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $162.00.

Royal Bank Of Canada Trading Up 0.5%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $167.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $161.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The financial services provider reported $2.94 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.81 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $13.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.60 billion. Royal Bank Of Canada had a net margin of 15.28% and a return on equity of 17.12%. Royal Bank Of Canada’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.62 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Royal Bank Of Canada will post 9.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Bank Of Canada Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 22nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 23rd will be issued a $1.64 dividend. This represents a $6.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is presently 45.07%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Bank Of Canada

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,628,463 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,529,165,000 after acquiring an additional 1,290,142 shares during the last quarter. FIL Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 23,258,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,965,133,000 after purchasing an additional 255,465 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada during the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,472,382,000. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its stake in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 15,233,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,596,904,000 after purchasing an additional 238,589 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,741,480 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,389,773,000 after purchasing an additional 882,253 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.