Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Raised to “Sector Outperform” at Scotiabank

Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) from a sector perform rating to a sector outperform rating in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Scotiabank currently has $189.00 price target on the basic materials company’s stock, up from their previous price target of $166.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on RGLD. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Raymond James upped their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $174.75.

Royal Gold Stock Up 1.2 %

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $181.80 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $11.96 billion, a PE ratio of 36.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. Royal Gold has a 52 week low of $118.00 and a 52 week high of $182.82. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $155.17 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $146.80.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. The trade was 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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 61.1% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 390.7% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 66.7% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.