Brokerages Set Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) PT at C$184.54

Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE:RY) (NYSE:RY) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have assigned a buy recommendation and three have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is C$184.54.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. National Bank Financial lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$195.00 to C$180.00 in a report on Monday, April 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group set a C$194.00 target price on shares of Royal Bank of Canada and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Royal Bank of Canada from C$180.00 to C$182.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, June 9th.

Royal Bank of Canada Stock Up 0.7%

RY stock opened at C$180.63 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of C$175.90 and a 200 day moving average of C$170.06. The stock has a market capitalization of C$255.59 billion, a PE ratio of 15.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Bank of Canada has a 52 week low of C$145.58 and a 52 week high of C$183.11.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 22nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 22nd will be given a dividend of $1.54 per share. This is a boost from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.48. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. This represents a $6.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Royal Bank of Canada’s payout ratio is presently 49.49%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Senior Officer Graeme Ashley Hepworth sold 308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of C$175.47, for a total transaction of C$54,044.58. Also, Senior Officer Jennifer Kristine Publicover sold 401 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of C$160.27, for a total transaction of C$64,266.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 152 shares in the company, valued at C$24,360.45. The trade was a 72.51% decrease in their position. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 62,731 shares of company stock valued at $10,663,017.

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.