Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD Stock Position Lowered by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,215 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,011 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Royal Gold worth $29,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 548.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 56.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Caldwell Trust Co bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in Royal Gold by 33.9% in the third quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 221 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 568.4% in the second quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 254 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank cut Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $330.00 price target on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.50.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD opened at $265.77 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $241.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $202.58. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.95 and a 52 week high of $306.25. The company has a market capitalization of $22.43 billion, a PE ratio of 36.51, a PEG ratio of 0.70 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.24). Royal Gold had a net margin of 55.99% and a return on equity of 14.14%. The company had revenue of $250.23 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $275.11 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.47 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd were given a $0.475 dividend. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 2nd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.10%.

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.