Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stock Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 81,131 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,361 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $10,154,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,169,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $988,149,000 after purchasing an additional 47,807 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,664,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $811,861,000 after acquiring an additional 21,407 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 6.8% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,595,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $559,807,000 after acquiring an additional 292,357 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,667,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $443,581,000 after acquiring an additional 37,885 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kopernik Global Investors LLC grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 671,723 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,252,000 after acquiring an additional 73,642 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RGLD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. CIBC upped their target price on Royal Gold from $166.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $157.00.

Royal Gold Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of RGLD opened at $141.15 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.55 and a 52-week high of $141.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.28 billion, a PE ratio of 41.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.87. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $132.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.62.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $174.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.15% and a return on equity of 8.74%. Royal Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 20.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.20%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royal Gold news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $58,452.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 8,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,124.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.16, for a total value of $132,160.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,109 shares in the company, valued at $1,203,845.44. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $58,452.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,154,124.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.