New York State Common Retirement Fund Sells 2,503 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

New York State Common Retirement Fund trimmed its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 43,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 2,503 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.07% of Royal Gold worth $5,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 13,968.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,883,000 after purchasing an additional 84,092 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its position in Royal Gold by 187.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after acquiring an additional 83,015 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at $11,246,000. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 35.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 46,615 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 3,637,739 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $553,810,000 after purchasing an additional 39,394 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD opened at $145.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $140.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.20. The firm has a market cap of $9.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.78, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $101.76 and a 1-year high of $155.64.

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

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $82,350.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

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.