Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,298 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.10% of Royal Gold worth $877,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 valued at $185,454,000 after buying an additional 33,151 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $63,843,000 after acquiring an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 221,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $29,241,000 after purchasing an additional 4,453 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 179,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,605,000 after purchasing an additional 3,286 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 35.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.6 %

RGLD opened at $162.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $148.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $144.73. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.00 and a twelve month high of $164.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

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.