Analysts Set Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) PT at $168.86

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $168.86.

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th.

Royal Gold Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $160.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $10.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.79, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $147.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $144.26. Royal Gold has a 52 week low of $110.01 and a 52 week high of $162.20.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 yield of 1.12%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,156,842,000 after acquiring an additional 37,648 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Royal Gold by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $877,058,000 after purchasing an additional 89,298 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after purchasing an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Royal Gold by 19.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,730,000 after purchasing an additional 168,569 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,412,000 after buying an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Company Profile

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.