Insider Selling: Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) SVP Sells 1,000 Shares of Stock

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,000 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.74, for a total transaction of $243,740.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,213,646.68. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.6%

NASDAQ RGLD traded up $6.22 on Monday, hitting $245.13. The stock had a trading volume of 669,142 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,025,964. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $257.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $238.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.26. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $150.75 and a 52-week high of $306.25. The stock has a market cap of $20.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.43.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.68 by ($0.76). Royal Gold had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 48.59%.The firm had revenue of $310.83 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $425.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.63 earnings per share. Royal Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 11.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 22.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on RGLD. Zacks Research lowered shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Scotiabank lowered shares of Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 26th. UBS Group set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. National Bank Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.64.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Royal Gold by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,733,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,163,732,000 after purchasing an additional 678,732 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Royal Gold by 25.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 1,681,577 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted 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 purchasing an additional 905,488 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted 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 purchasing an additional 396,778 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $434,063,000 after purchasing an additional 78,344 shares during the period. 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.