Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Makes New $2.24 Million Investment in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System purchased a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 18,500 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $2,238,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Artemis Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth $36,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in Royal Gold during the 1st quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Royal Gold from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. National Bank Financial raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. BMO Capital Markets raised Royal Gold from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $117.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $145.67.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other news, VP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD traded up $1.95 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $123.00. The stock had a trading volume of 860,199 shares, compared to its average volume of 431,300. The business has a fifty day moving average of $113.32 and a 200 day moving average of $114.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a current ratio of 2.31. The company has a market cap of $8.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.19 and a beta of 0.87. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $147.82.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $152.70 million during 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%. Royal Gold's quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 19th. Investors of record on Friday, April 5th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is currently 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.