Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have issued a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $168.86.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,156,842,000 after buying an additional 37,648 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $877,058,000 after buying an additional 89,298 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after purchasing an additional 33,151 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,730,000 after purchasing an additional 168,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,412,000 after purchasing an additional 152,599 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $155.29 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $145.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.21 billion, a PE ratio of 30.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold has a 1 year low of $108.95 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 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

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

Royal Gold Company Profile

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.