National Bank of Canada FI Has $16.86 Million Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 140,684 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,807 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $16,855,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold by 19.4% during the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 52,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,360,000 after buying an additional 8,550 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,238,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,138,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 28.0% in the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 236,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,160,000 after purchasing an additional 51,795 shares in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in Royal Gold by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 247,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,891,000 after purchasing an additional 7,334 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $163.00 to $162.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. 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. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $141.43.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $124.00 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $8.15 billion, a PE ratio of 34.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.99 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $117.36 and a 200-day moving average of $115.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.18. Royal Gold, Inc. has a one year low of $100.55 and a one year high of $143.89.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $152.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $140.32 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.53% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 43.96%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.52% 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.