Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Buys 199 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 199 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of RGLD. Quest Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $62,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Royal Gold in the third quarter worth $38,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Royal Gold by 0.3% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 479,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $67,223,000 after buying an additional 1,641 shares during the period. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 92.4% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 44,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,284,000 after buying an additional 21,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 114.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,527,000 after buying an additional 17,227 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This 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 available at the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $162.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $10.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.00 and a fifty-two week high of $164.18. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $148.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.67.

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 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, equities research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

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.