Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $165.43.

RGLD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.5 %

RGLD stock opened at $148.99 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $144.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.24. The company has a market capitalization of $9.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.30, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold has a fifty-two week low of $100.55 and a fifty-two week high of $155.10.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 5.13 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.70%.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 4,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.31, for a total transaction of $645,426.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,430 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,042,503.30. This trade represents a 38.24 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 8,924 shares of company stock worth $1,271,449. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Royal Gold by 224.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 609,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,276,000 after purchasing an additional 422,026 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 34.1% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,507,000 after buying an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,991,000 after buying an additional 156,048 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 38.4% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,514,000 after buying an additional 134,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,559,000. 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.