Brokerages Set Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) PT at $168.86

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $168.86.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $157.01 on Friday. Royal Gold has a 52 week low of $110.01 and a 52 week high of $158.94. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $146.33 and its 200 day moving average is $143.94. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,156,842,000 after purchasing an additional 37,648 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 valued at $877,058,000 after buying an additional 89,298 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% during the third 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 last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,730,000 after acquiring an additional 168,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Royal Gold by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,412,000 after purchasing an additional 152,599 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.