Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) Rating Lowered to Hold at TD Securities

TD Securities lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. TD Securities currently has C$180.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of C$178.00.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on RY. Desjardins lifted their price target on Royal Bank of Canada from C$156.00 to C$163.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. CIBC increased their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$166.00 to C$167.00 in a research report on Friday, September 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$162.00 to C$180.00 in a report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$151.00 to C$165.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$157.00 to C$154.00 in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Royal Bank of Canada presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of C$163.54.

Royal Bank of Canada Price Performance

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada stock opened at C$171.13 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of C$241.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.16, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day moving average is C$169.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is C$155.43. Royal Bank of Canada has a 1 year low of C$115.57 and a 1 year high of C$175.04.

Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 28th. The financial services provider reported C$3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of C$2.95 by C$0.31. The firm had revenue of C$14.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of C$14.27 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 28.67% and a return on equity of 13.68%. On average, equities analysts expect that Royal Bank of Canada will post 12.3454675 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Bank of Canada Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 24th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is currently 50.31%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director David Ian Mckay sold 74,852 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$164.59, for a total transaction of C$12,320,115.24. Also, Senior Officer Douglas Antony Guzman sold 17,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$167.95, for a total transaction of C$2,855,150.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 25 shares in the company, valued at approximately C$4,198.75. The trade was a 99.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 144,770 shares of company stock valued at $23,959,265.

About Royal Bank of Canada

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.