Raymond James & Associates Trims Stock Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Raymond James & Associates cut its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 10.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 70,117 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 8,234 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned 0.11% of Royal Gold worth $8,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,280,676 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $455,165,000 after acquiring an additional 54,449 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 66.2% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,153,139 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $588,192,000 after acquiring an additional 1,654,360 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $239,552,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 3.4% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 975,099 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $126,480,000 after acquiring an additional 31,632 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% during the third 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 last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They set a "hold" rating and a $117.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised Royal Gold from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut Royal Gold from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $145.67.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, VP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.18, for a total transaction of $52,090.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 9,473 shares of the company's stock, valued at $986,897.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.4 %

Royal Gold stock traded up $2.95 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $125.35. The stock had a trading volume of 731,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 461,675. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.31. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $100.55 and a fifty-two week high of $147.82. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $112.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.23 billion, a PE ratio of 34.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.87.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $152.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $140.32 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 39.53%. Royal Gold's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.17 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is 43.96%.

Royal Gold 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.