Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $260.5556.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on RGLD shares. Zacks Research lowered Royal Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 26th.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total value of $549,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 20,043 shares in the company, valued at $5,508,417.69. The trade was a 9.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 4,173 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $277.07, for a total value of $1,156,213.11. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,698,162.03. This represents a 40.51% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 7,573 shares of company stock worth $2,127,091 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 104.1% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,994,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,001,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,076 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,867,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,577 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $332,026,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 89.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,855,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $412,543,000 after purchasing an additional 874,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 457.5% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 925,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,820,000 after purchasing an additional 759,810 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $260.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $267.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $230.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.55. Royal Gold has a fifty-two week low of $150.75 and a fifty-two week high of $306.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a current ratio of 3.12.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($0.76). The company had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.47 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 27.90%.

About Royal Gold

Royal Gold, Inc, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company. Through its business model, Royal Gold provides upfront financing to mining operators in exchange for the right to purchase a percentage of future metal production at predetermined prices. This structure allows the company to participate in production upside while minimizing exposure to the operating and capital-intensive aspects of mine ownership.

The company’s portfolio encompasses interests in over 200 streams and royalties on projects across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.