Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Purchases 199 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 13,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter worth approximately $18,427,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth $11,998,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 187.5% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after purchasing an additional 83,015 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 35.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 46,615 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB increased its position in Royal Gold by 47.6% in the fourth quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 118,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $15,601,000 after buying an additional 38,170 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Royal Gold currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.6 %

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $162.19 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $148.67 and a 200 day moving average price of $144.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.00 and a 12-month high of $164.18.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. On average, research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold 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.