Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 19.2% in the fourth quarter, buying 28,038 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 174,253 shares worth about $38.7 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with hedge funds and other investors holding 83.65% of the stock, while a few smaller funds also added new positions during the quarter.
• Analysts are mixed on RGLD: the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with an average price target of $273.64, though recent reports ranged from buy and outperform to a downgrade to strong sell.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 174,253 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 28,038 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.21% of Royal Gold worth $38,735,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $30,000. Bank & Trust Co increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 600.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 8,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 170 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 168 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group set a $325.00 price target on Royal Gold and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. National Bank Financial lowered their price target on Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Zacks Research cut Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $273.64.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

RGLD opened at $238.78 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.26 billion, a PE ratio of 28.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $257.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $238.48. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $150.75 and a fifty-two week high of $306.25.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.68 by ($0.76). The company had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.47 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 48.59%.The business's revenue was up 85.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 11.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.65%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total transaction of $421,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 20,140 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,059,521.80. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 4,173 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.07, for a total value of $1,156,213.11. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,698,162.03. This represents a 40.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 7,573 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,091 in the last three months. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Gold Profile

Royal Gold, Inc, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company. Through its business model, Royal Gold provides upfront financing to mining operators in exchange for the right to purchase a percentage of future metal production at predetermined prices. This structure allows the company to participate in production upside while minimizing exposure to the operating and capital-intensive aspects of mine ownership.

The company's portfolio encompasses interests in over 200 streams and royalties on projects across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.

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