California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 5,999 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

California Public Employees Retirement System trimmed its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 302,515 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,999 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.46% of Royal Gold worth $39,887,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $877,058,000 after acquiring an additional 89,298 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $44,009,000. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in Royal Gold by 181.6% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 302,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $39,846,000 after purchasing an additional 194,905 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.2 %

RGLD opened at $164.56 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.65, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $150.16 and a 200-day moving average price of $145.23. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.00 and a twelve month high of $164.96.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results 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%. As a group, analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 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.