Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Stock Price Up 5.5%

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s stock price traded up 5.5% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $116.63 and last traded at $116.07. 114,722 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 388,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $110.06.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on RGLD. National Bank Financial upgraded Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Royal Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $117.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $145.67.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $111.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.90. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a market capitalization of $8.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.86.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.53% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The firm had revenue of $152.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.32 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Royal Gold’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.17 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 43.96%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, VP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.18, for a total value of $52,090.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 9,473 shares in the company, valued at approximately $986,897.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $239,552,000. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 66.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,153,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $588,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,360 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the first quarter worth about $56,762,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Royal Gold by 65.7% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 612,166 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $79,406,000 after buying an additional 242,641 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 1st quarter valued at about $29,022,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.