Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $168.86.

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of RGLD opened at $144.84 on Thursday. Royal Gold has a twelve month low of $100.55 and a twelve month high of $155.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.22, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a 50 day moving average of $139.50 and a 200-day moving average of $140.69.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. Royal Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 41.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,950. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 61.1% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Royal Gold

Royal Gold, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, acquires and manages precious metal streams, royalties, and related interests. The company engages in acquiring stream and royalty interests or to finance projects that are in production, development, or in the exploration stage in exchange for stream or royalty interests, which primarily consists of gold, silver, copper, nickel, zinc, lead, and other metals.