State of Wisconsin Investment Board Invests $87.72 Million in Royal Bank Of Canada $RY

State of Wisconsin Investment Board bought a new position in shares of Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 513,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $87,721,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 96,234 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,407,000 after purchasing an additional 15,046 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 325,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,480,000 after purchasing an additional 26,782 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 6.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,373,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,086,601,000 after purchasing an additional 368,534 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 3.6% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,275,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,219,924,000 after purchasing an additional 287,504 shares during the period. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp raised its stake in Royal Bank Of Canada by 2.1% during the third quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 4,854,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $715,227,000 after purchasing an additional 99,966 shares during the period. 45.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Bank Of Canada Price Performance

Royal Bank Of Canada stock opened at $201.02 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.58. The company has a market capitalization of $279.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.81. Royal Bank Of Canada has a 1 year low of $126.02 and a 1 year high of $201.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Royal Bank Of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 28th. The financial services provider reported $2.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.81 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $12.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.74 billion. Royal Bank Of Canada had a net margin of 15.92% and a return on equity of 17.83%. The business’s revenue was up 11.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Royal Bank Of Canada will post 11.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Bank Of Canada Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 24th. Investors of record on Monday, July 27th will be issued a $1.76 dividend. This represents a $7.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. This is an increase from Royal Bank Of Canada’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.64. The ex-dividend date is Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RY. Raymond James Financial cut shares of Royal Bank Of Canada from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Royal Bank Of Canada from a “buy (b+)” rating to a “buy (a-)” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Royal Bank Of Canada in a research note on Friday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Royal Bank Of Canada presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $225.00.

Royal Bank Of Canada 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.