Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives $168.86 Consensus PT from Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $168.86.

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 report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Royal Gold Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $157.01 on Friday. Royal Gold has a 12-month low of $110.01 and a 12-month high of $158.94. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $146.33 and a 200-day moving average of $143.94. The company has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results 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 return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. On average, equities analysts expect that Royal Gold will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $741,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,076 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,515,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in 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 worth $18,049,000 after acquiring an additional 83,015 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,130,000 after acquiring an additional 5,480 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,201,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.