Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership Acquires 194,905 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 181.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 302,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 194,905 shares during the quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership owned 0.46% of Royal Gold worth $39,846,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $877,058,000 after purchasing an additional 89,298 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after acquiring an additional 33,151 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,843,000 after acquiring an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,009,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in Royal Gold by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 221,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,453 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.2 %

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $164.56 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $150.16 and its 200-day moving average is $145.23. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $118.00 and a 1-year high of $164.96. The stock has a market cap of $10.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

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.