Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Sets New 1-Year High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on the stock from $130.00 to $141.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the stock. Royal Gold traded as high as $135.55 and last traded at $133.92, with a volume of 15555 shares. The stock had previously closed at $133.09.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently commented on RGLD. CIBC increased their price objective on Royal Gold from $166.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $144.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of Royal Gold to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Royal Gold has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $152.75.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $130.73, for a total transaction of $196,095.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,840 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,940,033.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Royal Gold by 526.3% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 238 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 2.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $127.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.98. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.19, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 0.87.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The basic materials company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.04). Royal Gold had a net margin of 38.12% and a return on equity of 7.96%. The business had revenue of $148.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $147.02 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.96 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.56 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.20%.

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.