Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 6,939 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 201.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,388 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 6,939 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,699,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 37,648 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $877,058,000 after purchasing an additional 89,298 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in 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 valued at $135,730,000 after purchasing an additional 168,569 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $131,412,000 after buying an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 49,206 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of RGLD stock traded down $7.92 on Friday, hitting $175.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 682,089 shares, compared to its average volume of 424,287. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $176.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $156.00. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $119.72 and a fifty-two week high of $191.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.91, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Gold's payout ratio is 29.80%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on RGLD shares. Raymond James upped their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. CIBC boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price objective on Royal Gold and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $183.13.

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.