Bank of Montreal Can Acquires 83,015 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 187.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $18,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Royal Gold by 1,800.2% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 19,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,306,000 after acquiring an additional 18,344 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in Royal Gold by 165.0% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 6,616 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 357.7% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,473,000 after purchasing an additional 40,419 shares during the last quarter. BDF Gestion purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the second quarter valued at about $1,831,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 75.8% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 65,293 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,174,000 after purchasing an additional 28,163 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $146.26 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $137.13. The stock has a market cap of $9.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.55, a PEG ratio of 1.07 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $100.55 and a 52-week high of $155.10.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.70%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.43, for a total transaction of $120,481.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,648.06. This trade represents a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on RGLD. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities upped their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.43.

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.