Teacher Retirement System of Texas Raises Stake in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

Key Points

• Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 123.4% in Q4 to 35,031 shares (an additional 19,351 shares) worth about $7.79 million.
• Insiders have been net sellers, disposing of 7,573 shares (~$2.13 million) in the past 90 days — including Director William M. Hayes (4,173 shares at $277.07) and Mark Isto (2,000 shares at $274.83) — leaving insiders with just 0.35% ownership.
• Business and analyst snapshot: Royal Gold missed Q4 estimates (EPS $1.92; revenue $310.8M), trades around $252 with a $21.4B market cap, pays a $1.90 annual dividend (0.8% yield), and carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $273.64.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 123.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 35,031 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 19,351 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Royal Gold were worth $7,787,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in RGLD. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 99.5% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 168,846 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $27,608,000 after buying an additional 84,206 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 51.5% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 8,465 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 28.9% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $631,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 43.0% during the second quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 188,247 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $33,478,000 after purchasing an additional 56,621 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 4.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,551 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,366,000 after purchasing an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 4,173 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.07, for a total transaction of $1,156,213.11. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,129 shares in the company, valued at $1,698,162.03. This represents a 40.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total value of $549,660.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,043 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,508,417.69. This represents a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 7,573 shares of company stock worth $2,127,091 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RGLD has been the topic of several recent research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Tuesday. National Bank Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 17th. Scotiabank downgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $335.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, UBS Group set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $273.64.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of RGLD opened at $252.36 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $264.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $236.48. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.75 and a twelve month high of $306.25. The stock has a market cap of $21.41 billion, a PE ratio of 37.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.55. The company has a quick ratio of 2.91, a current ratio of 3.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its quarterly earnings results 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). Royal Gold had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.63 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 12.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 2nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 27.90%.

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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