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

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $183.13.

Several analysts have commented on RGLD shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. CIBC lifted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company 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 lifted their target price for the stock 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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royal Gold 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 transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $971,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 20,704 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $3,385,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,586 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $259,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the period. GoalVest Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $246,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 16,544 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,705,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $173.66 on Wednesday. Royal Gold has a 12-month low of $119.72 and a 12-month high of $191.78. The company has a market capitalization of $11.43 billion, a PE ratio of 34.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $176.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.42.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Royal Gold will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 29.80%.

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.