Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Sold by Ninety One UK Ltd

Ninety One UK Ltd decreased its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 329,424 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,386 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $39,847,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,280,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $455,165,000 after purchasing an additional 54,449 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 66.2% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,153,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $588,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,360 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $239,552,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Royal Gold by 3.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 975,099 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $126,480,000 after acquiring an additional 31,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Royal Gold by 0.5% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 699,138 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,339,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $56,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,127 shares in the company, valued at $1,370,351. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RGLD. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $117.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $143.25.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $121.66 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $8.00 billion, a PE ratio of 33.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.30 and a beta of 0.87. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.55 and a 12 month high of $147.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.14.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.20. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.53% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm had revenue of $152.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.32 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. Royal Gold’s revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be issued a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 43.96%.

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.