Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Acquired by Swedbank AB

Swedbank AB increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 47.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 118,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 38,170 shares during the quarter. Swedbank AB’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $15,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 1.1% during 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 raised its position in Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after buying an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Royal Gold by 0.3% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $27,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,636 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake 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 worth $25,074,000 after acquiring an additional 46,615 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,362,859.40. This represents a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was 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 directly owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $139.82 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.55 and a 12-month high of $155.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $139.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $140.61. The company has a market capitalization of $9.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.07, a P/E/G ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The business’s revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.76 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RGLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. TD Securities upped their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James raised their target price on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock 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 boosted their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold 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.