Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $156.25 and last traded at $155.38, with a volume of 87673 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.17.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Raymond James raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Down 1.5 %

The firm has a market cap of $9.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.13, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a 50 day moving average of $142.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 21,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 21,772 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,871,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.