Westwood Holdings Group Inc. Sells 6,152 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Key Points

• Westwood Holdings Group Inc. reduced its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. by 6.5%, selling 6,152 shares and now holding 89,170 shares valued at approximately $14,580,000.
• Royal Gold reported a strong quarterly performance with $1.81 earnings per share, beating estimates by $0.11, and a year-over-year revenue increase of 20.4%.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, leading to an annualized dividend of $1.80 with a yield of 1.1%.

Westwood Holdings Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,170 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 6,152 shares during the quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. owned about 0.14% of Royal Gold worth $14,580,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of RGLD. Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 1st quarter valued at $32,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd grew its stake in Royal Gold by 256.5% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 246 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 77.0% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 439 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $72,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Finally, HM Payson & Co. grew its stake in Royal Gold by 4,545.5% in the 1st quarter. HM Payson & Co. now owns 511 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $84,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of Royal Gold stock traded up $3.64 during trading on Friday, hitting $168.97. 1,015,011 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 946,503. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $168.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $164.31. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $127.82 and a twelve month high of $191.78. The company has a market cap of $11.12 billion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 0.40.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.11. Royal Gold had a net margin of 56.24% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The business had revenue of $209.64 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 17th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.1%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Royal Gold's payout ratio is 26.39%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RGLD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. TD Securities raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $229.00 to $237.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Royal Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $203.00 in a research note on Wednesday, June 11th. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price target on shares of Royal Gold and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price 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.