Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD Shares Sold by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Key Points

• Dimensional Fund Advisors LP cut its Royal Gold stake by 19.4% in the first quarter, selling 228,612 shares and leaving it with 948,257 shares valued at about $241.2 million.
• Institutional ownership remains very high, with 83.65% of Royal Gold’s stock held by institutional investors and hedge funds. Several large firms, including Capital World Investors and Vanguard, increased their positions.
• Analysts are broadly constructive on the stock, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $280.27, though some firms recently trimmed their targets.

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP decreased its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 19.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 948,257 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 228,612 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.12% of Royal Gold worth $241,223,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Royal Gold by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,733,807 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,163,732,000 after purchasing an additional 678,732 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,867,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,577 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,900,432 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,311,607,000 after acquiring an additional 905,488 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,718,646 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $826,618,000 after acquiring an additional 396,778 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,952,363 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $434,063,000 after purchasing an additional 78,344 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Zacks Research raised shares of Royal Gold from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Royal Gold from a "buy (b)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. National Bank Financial decreased their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on Royal Gold from $318.00 to $311.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 6th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $280.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $215.85, for a total transaction of $107,925.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,582 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,852,424.70. This trade represents a 5.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Gold Trading Down 0.8%

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $199.64 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $208.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $243.05. Royal Gold, Inc. has a one year low of $150.75 and a one year high of $306.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market cap of $16.94 billion, a PE ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.44.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 22.65%.

About Royal Gold

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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