Brokerages Set Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Price Target at $143.25

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the eight ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $143.25.

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised Royal Gold from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $117.00 price objective for the company. National Bank Financial raised shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Royal Gold from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th.

Royal Gold Trading Down 3.3 %

RGLD traded down $4.13 on Tuesday, reaching $120.13. 565,548 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 433,832. The company has a market cap of $7.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.13 and a beta of 0.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.18, a current ratio of 2.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Royal Gold has a one year low of $100.55 and a one year high of $147.82. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $115.22.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $152.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.32 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.53% and a return on equity of 8.18%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Royal Gold will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Royal Gold's payout ratio is currently 43.96%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.18, for a total value of $52,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 9,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $986,897.14. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Capital World Investors grew its position in Royal Gold by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,169,223 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $988,149,000 after purchasing an additional 47,807 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,643,568 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $803,606,000 after acquiring an additional 22,921 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Royal Gold by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,595,734 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $559,807,000 after acquiring an additional 292,357 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,667,169 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $443,581,000 after acquiring an additional 37,885 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Royal Gold by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 699,138 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $74,339,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Company Profile

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.