AQR Capital Management LLC Increases Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 997,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 152,599 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.52% of Royal Gold worth $131,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 19.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $135,730,000 after buying an additional 168,569 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 27.3% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 28,913 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,812,000 after acquiring an additional 6,203 shares during the period. Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth about $327,000. Two Sigma Securities LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 209.2% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Securities LLC now owns 2,971 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $392,000 after purchasing an additional 5,691 shares during the period. Finally, Voya Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 21.6% during the 4th quarter. Voya Investment Management LLC now owns 42,666 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,626,000 after purchasing an additional 7,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company'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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RGLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James boosted their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $178.00.

Royal Gold Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of RGLD traded down $1.57 on Friday, reaching $176.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 517,629 shares, compared to its average volume of 408,851. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.62 billion, a PE ratio of 35.02, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.72 and a twelve month high of $191.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $164.63 and a 200-day moving average of $150.74.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is 35.71%.

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.