Stifel Financial Corp Increases Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 14.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 50,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,428 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp owned about 0.08% of Royal Gold worth $7,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,637,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $553,810,000 after acquiring an additional 39,394 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,584,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $448,694,000 after acquiring an additional 20,508 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 34.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,507,000 after acquiring an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 24.0% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $100,991,000 after acquiring an additional 156,048 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 38.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,514,000 after acquiring an additional 134,120 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.43.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

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

Royal Gold Trading Down 2.2 %

Royal Gold stock opened at $146.93 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $146.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $138.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 33.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 0.89. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.55 and a 12-month high of $155.10.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business’s revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.28%.

Royal Gold Company Profile

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.