Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $159.23 and last traded at $156.01, with a volume of 74393 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $157.01.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average price is $146.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 1.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.