First Trust Advisors LP Boosts Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,803 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned approximately 0.15% of Royal Gold worth $13,195,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 390.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $49,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $73,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RGLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James increased their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $178.00.

Royal Gold Stock Down 2.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD traded down $4.68 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $178.03. 347,329 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 407,357. The company has a market capitalization of $11.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $163.58 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $150.28. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $118.61 and a 52-week high of $191.78.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.01%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

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.