ING Groep NV Acquires Shares of 8,500 Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Key Points

• ING Groep NV has acquired a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc., purchasing 8,500 shares valued at approximately $1.39 million.
• Royal Gold recently reported earnings of $1.81 per share, beating analyst estimates, with a significant revenue increase of 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company's stock price rose by 2.2%, reaching $168.97, with strong institutional ownership at 83.65% of total shares.

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 8,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $1,390,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in RGLD. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,156,842,000 after purchasing an additional 37,648 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $135,730,000 after purchasing an additional 168,569 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% during the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $131,412,000 after acquiring an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 877,803 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $115,735,000 after acquiring an additional 49,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 17,722.4% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 457,501 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $74,806,000 after acquiring an additional 454,934 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of RGLD stock traded up $3.64 on Friday, reaching $168.97. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,015,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 946,503. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $127.82 and a 12-month high of $191.78. The company has a market capitalization of $11.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.40. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $168.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $164.31.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.1%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on RGLD. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price target on Royal Gold and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. CIBC increased their price target on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Scotiabank raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wall Street Zen lowered Royal Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $203.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $198.63.

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.