Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL has been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $183.00.

RGLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. CIBC boosted their price objective on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Raymond James raised their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $741,000. Arizona State Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,076 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,515,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $63,843,000 after buying an additional 5,067 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 13,005 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,715,000 after buying an additional 199 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $455,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Trading Down 7.3%

NASDAQ:RGLD traded down $13.54 on Friday, hitting $170.87. 743,149 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 413,408. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $168.47 and a 200-day moving average of $151.95. The stock has a market cap of $11.24 billion, a PE ratio of 33.90, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.48. Royal Gold has a fifty-two week low of $119.72 and a fifty-two week high of $191.78.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.14. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $176.17 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. Royal Gold's revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 29.80%.

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.