Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.70 Million Stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 201.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,699,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 189,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,916,000 after purchasing an additional 10,049 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $246,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 17,722.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 457,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,806,000 after purchasing an additional 454,934 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $548,000. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 59,757 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $7,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.13.

Royal Gold Trading Down 4.3%

Shares of Royal Gold stock opened at $175.93 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.44. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.72 and a 1-year high of $191.78. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $176.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $156.00.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.14. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.17 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 29.80%.

Royal Gold 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.