Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $165.43.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on RGLD. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price target on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th.

Royal Gold Stock Down 0.1 %

RGLD stock opened at $134.44 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $143.27 and its 200 day simple moving average is $139.44. The company has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a PE ratio of 30.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.89. Royal Gold has a twelve month low of $100.55 and a twelve month high of $155.10.

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

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,637,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $553,810,000 after acquiring an additional 39,394 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% during the second quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,584,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $448,694,000 after purchasing an additional 20,508 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,454,000 after purchasing an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in Royal Gold by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,991,000 after buying an additional 156,048 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 38.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,514,000 after buying an additional 134,120 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.