Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Buys New Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 7,670 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,254,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $741,000. Arizona State Retirement System raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in 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 worth $63,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the first quarter valued at $324,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 1.6% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.49% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of RGLD traded up $3.26 on Friday, hitting $182.29. 1,697,487 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 431,112. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $119.72 and a 1 year high of $191.78. The stock's 50 day moving average is $177.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $156.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.44.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.14. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. The company had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $176.17 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given 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 0.99%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.80%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on RGLD. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Royal Gold from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $185.33.

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.