Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Acquired by River Road Asset Management LLC

River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 19.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,550 shares during the quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.08% of Royal Gold worth $6,360,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RGLD. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $239,552,000. State Street Corp grew its position in Royal Gold by 66.2% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,153,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $588,192,000 after buying an additional 1,654,360 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the 1st quarter valued at $56,762,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Royal Gold by 65.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 612,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,406,000 after buying an additional 242,641 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the 1st quarter valued at $29,022,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $56,500.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,127 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,370,351. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on RGLD shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.67.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $123.85 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a PEG ratio of 6.20 and a beta of 0.87. Royal Gold, Inc. has a one year low of $100.55 and a one year high of $147.82. The company’s fifty day moving average is $113.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.31.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.53% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The business had revenue of $152.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.96%.

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.