Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires Shares of 90,997 Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 90,997 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,998,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned 0.14% of Royal Gold at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after buying an additional 149 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 187.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 213.1% during the third quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 8,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 5,480 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth about $1,201,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,843,000 after acquiring an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $154.76 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $145.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $143.63. The stock has a market cap of $10.18 billion, a PE ratio of 30.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $107.33 and a 1 year high of $158.94.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

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.