Royal Bank of Canada (RY) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.02 on May 24th

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 29th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be paid a dividend of 1.0207 per share by the financial services provider on Friday, May 24th. This represents a $4.08 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This is a boost from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02.

Royal Bank of Canada has raised its dividend by an average of 7.5% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 1 years. Royal Bank of Canada has a payout ratio of 45.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Royal Bank of Canada to earn $9.18 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 43.8%.

Royal Bank of Canada Price Performance

RY stock opened at $97.86 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Royal Bank of Canada has a 12 month low of $77.90 and a 12 month high of $103.88. The firm has a market cap of $138.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $98.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.38.

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.05. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $9.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.10 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 817,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $90,144,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the period. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 7,030 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $775,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 23,498 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,591,000 after acquiring an additional 458 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 47.1% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582 shares during the period. Finally, Thomas White International Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Thomas White International Ltd. now owns 15,778 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 701 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 45.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on RY. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $140.00 to $150.00 in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays began coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They set an “equal weight” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.67.

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.