Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) Short Interest Down 17.1% in August

Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE:RY) (TSE:RY) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,310,000 shares, a drop of 17.1% from the August 15th total of 13,640,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,010,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 11.2 days. Approximately 0.8% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Royal Bank of Canada

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 55,695,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,618,566,000 after purchasing an additional 964,898 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 21.7% in the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 32,571,491 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,310,010,000 after buying an additional 5,810,077 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its stake in Royal Bank of Canada by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 28,024,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,834,219,000 after buying an additional 1,357,956 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in Royal Bank of Canada by 16.7% during the second quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 20,232,204 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,141,681,000 after acquiring an additional 2,901,033 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FIL Ltd raised its stake in shares of Royal Bank of Canada by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 18,790,164 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,900,217,000 after acquiring an additional 333,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 45.31% of the company’s stock.

Royal Bank of Canada Trading Down 0.3 %

Royal Bank of Canada stock opened at $123.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 0.87. Royal Bank of Canada has a fifty-two week low of $77.90 and a fifty-two week high of $124.31. The stock has a market cap of $174.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.33, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.86. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $113.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.24.

Royal Bank of Canada Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 22nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 24th will be paid a $1.028 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 24th. This represents a $4.11 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. Royal Bank of Canada’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.11%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on RY. StockNews.com lowered shares of Royal Bank of Canada from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 20th. UBS Group initiated coverage on Royal Bank of Canada in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Royal Bank of Canada from $151.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Royal Bank of Canada from $115.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Royal Bank of Canada currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $142.50.

Royal Bank of Canada Company Profile

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.