Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Rating Lowered to "Hold" at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Royal Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold," indicating a shift in market sentiment regarding the stock.
• Despite the downgrade, TD Securities reiterated a "buy" rating with a price target increase to $237.00, reflecting mixed analyst opinions on Royal Gold's outlook.
• The company's recent earnings report showed strong performance, with a reported $1.81 earnings per share, surpassing estimates and reflecting a 20.4% year-over-year revenue growth.

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price objective on Royal Gold and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Wall Street Zen lowered Royal Gold from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 16th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $237.00 target price (up previously from $229.00) on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Friday, August 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $203.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Finally, CIBC raised their target price on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $198.63.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of RGLD stock traded up $2.69 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $177.44. The company had a trading volume of 635,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 858,152. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $167.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.67. Royal Gold has a one year low of $130.67 and a one year high of $191.78. The company has a market capitalization of $11.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.02, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.40.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.70 by $0.11. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 56.24%.The business had revenue of $209.64 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.63 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 3rd. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 26.39%.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 5,938 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $971,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. BCS Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. BCS Wealth Management now owns 20,704 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $3,385,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 1,586 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $259,000 after purchasing an additional 68 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 56.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 196 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 71 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 7.5% during the 2nd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,061 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

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.