West Family Investments Inc. Purchases 346 Shares of Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY)

West Family Investments Inc. lifted its position in Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 346 shares during the quarter. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Royal Bank of Canada were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RY. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 13.0% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 26,666,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,330,506,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,038 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 26,869,809 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,718,631,000 after purchasing an additional 1,369,723 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Royal Bank of Canada during the fourth quarter valued at $1,220,441,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 53,127,219 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,645,444,000 after purchasing an additional 717,971 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. bought a new position in Royal Bank of Canada during the third quarter valued at $34,335,000. 45.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Bank of Canada Trading Up 1.2 %

RY stock traded up $1.20 during trading on Thursday, hitting $98.58. The company had a trading volume of 178,758 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,197,594. The firm has a market capitalization of $139.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.26, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.85. Royal Bank of Canada has a 52-week low of $77.90 and a 52-week high of $103.88. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $95.07. 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 (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 28th. The financial services provider reported $2.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.06 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $9.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.10 billion. Royal Bank of Canada had a net margin of 12.43% and a return on equity of 14.74%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Royal Bank of Canada will post 8.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Bank of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 24th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 25th will be given a dividend of $1.0207 per share. This is an increase from Royal Bank of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.02. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 24th. This represents a $4.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 25.31%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RY has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $140.00 to $150.00 in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Barclays initiated coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a report on Wednesday, March 20th. They issued an “equal weight” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Royal Bank of Canada in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus 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.