Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Bought by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1,904.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 32,184 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $4,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,637,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $553,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Royal Gold by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,454,000 after buying an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Royal Gold by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 479,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,223,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 194,326 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 35.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,074,000 after acquiring an additional 46,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $141.33 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.55 and a fifty-two week high of $155.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $139.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.59.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $193.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm’s revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James raised their price target on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of Royal Gold 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 sale, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.