Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Upgraded at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $178.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous target price of $154.00.

RGLD has been the subject of a number of other reports. StockNews.com raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. TD Securities boosted 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. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $136.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a PE ratio of 31.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $142.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $139.65.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $193.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Analysts expect that Royal Gold will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This represents a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,950. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Natixis Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 2nd quarter worth $1,673,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its position in Royal Gold by 1.9% in the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 18,402 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,303,000 after purchasing an additional 348 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $712,000 after purchasing an additional 141 shares in the last quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund Corp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund Corp now owns 59,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,495,000 after buying an additional 2,392 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.