Cerity Partners LLC Buys 14,698 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 44.7% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,577 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,698 shares during the period. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $7,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Jones Financial Companies Lllp grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 390.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,998,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $741,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Royal Gold by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 129,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $17,048,000 after purchasing an additional 900 shares during the period. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 13,005 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,715,000 after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $157.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.14 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $175.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $161.80. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $125.69 and a 52 week high of $191.78.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.17 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 52.15% and a return on equity of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. Analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 29.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. CIBC upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $192.13.

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.