Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Rating Increased to Outperform at BMO Capital Markets

Key Points

• BMO Capital Markets has upgraded Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) from a "hold" to a "strong-buy" rating, indicating increased confidence in the stock.
• Royal Gold's stock has a fifty-two week range of $130.67 to $209.42, and analysts project an average price target of $214.11.
• Recent earnings showed Royal Gold reported $1.81 EPS, exceeding expectations and reflecting a year-over-year revenue increase of 20.4%.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL was upgraded by BMO Capital Markets from a "hold" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on RGLD. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $237.00 target price (up previously from $229.00) on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $214.11.

Royal Gold Trading Down 1.7%

RGLD stock traded down $3.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $181.41. The company's stock had a trading volume of 476,674 shares, compared to its average volume of 744,838. Royal Gold has a 12 month low of $130.67 and a 12 month high of $209.42. The firm's 50-day moving average is $187.86 and its 200-day moving average is $177.71. The company has a market cap of $11.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.41.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $209.64 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $186.63 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 56.24%.Royal Gold's revenue for the quarter was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.25 EPS. Analysts expect that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WPG Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. grew its stake in Royal Gold by 548.1% in the 2nd quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. now owns 175 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 148 shares during the period. Alpine Bank Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in Royal Gold by 56.8% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 71 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

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.