Empowered Funds LLC Invests $254,000 in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,926 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RGLD. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 13,968.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,883,000 after buying an additional 84,092 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake 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 worth $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the third quarter worth $11,246,000. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 35.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,074,000 after buying an additional 46,615 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,637,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $553,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of Royal Gold 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Raymond James raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

RGLD opened at $148.45 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.55 and a fifty-two week high of $155.64. The company has a fifty day moving average of $139.53 and a two-hundred day moving average of $141.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.45, a PEG ratio of 3.35 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

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.