Mark Isto Sells 2,000 Shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Stock

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total transaction of $549,660.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 20,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,508,417.69. The trade was a 9.07% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $259.11 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $150.75 and a 12-month high of $306.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $273.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $223.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.12 and a quick ratio of 2.91.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($0.76). The firm had revenue of $360.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.47 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be issued a $0.475 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 27.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on RGLD. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. TD Cowen upped their target price on Royal Gold from $261.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research lowered Royal Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Scotiabank cut Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $251.50.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,733,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,163,732,000 after buying an additional 678,732 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,867,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,577 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in Royal Gold by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,900,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,311,607,000 after acquiring an additional 905,488 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Royal Gold by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,718,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $826,618,000 after acquiring an additional 396,778 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,952,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $434,063,000 after acquiring an additional 78,344 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.