Royal Bank of Canada rises after Jefferies upgrades to ‘buy’

BUZZ-Royal Bank of Canada rises after Jefferies upgrades to ‘buy’

** Shares of lender Royal Bank of Canada RY.TO rise as much as 1.4%, last up 1.2% at C$142.80

** Jefferies upgrades RY to “buy” from “hold”; raises PT to C$157 from C$136, a 11.3% upside to the stock’s last close

** Brokerage says that with RY closing and integrating the C$13.50 bln ($9.88 bln) acquisition of HSBC Canada at the end of March with no significant reported disruptions in services, it believes that significant customer retention is likely

** RY’s acquisition of HSBC provides significant growth and efficiency opportunities – Jefferies

** Jefferies expects RY to outpace its peers in terms of organic growth as HSBC synergies boost the bank’s fee-based revenues from wealth management and capital markets

** Eleven of 16 brokerages rate the stock “buy” or higher, four “hold” and one “sell”; their median PT is C$145 – LSEG

** As of last close, RY shares were up 5.3% YTD

($1 = 1.3670 Canadian dollars)

Reporting by Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru