Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.17 EPS

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) posted its earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ RGLD traded up $2.32 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $147.19. The stock had a trading volume of 473,434 shares, compared to its average volume of 406,737. The company has a market capitalization of $9.68 billion, a PE ratio of 33.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.90. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $139.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $140.96. Royal Gold has a 12 month low of $100.55 and a 12 month high of $155.10.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on RGLD shares. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities lifted their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.