Jefferies Financial Group Upgrades Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) to Buy

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $178.00 price objective on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $154.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 30.64% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on RGLD. StockNews.com raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 2.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $136.25 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.25, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold has a one year low of $100.55 and a one year high of $155.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $142.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $139.68.

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

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $748,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 5,690 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $712,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 15.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,145 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $161,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.