Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Hits New 12-Month High After Analyst Upgrade

Key Points

• Royal Gold's share price reached a new 12-month high of $208.81 after an upgrade from Bank of America, which raised its price target to $203.00.
• The stock received mixed ratings from analysts, with six giving it a "Buy," three a "Hold," and one a "Sell," resulting in a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy."
• Royal Gold announced a quarterly dividend of $0.45 per share, reflecting an annualized yield of 0.9% and a payout ratio of 26.39%.

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL's share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $193.00 to $203.00. Bank of America currently has an underperform rating on the stock. Royal Gold traded as high as $208.81 and last traded at $206.96, with a volume of 345310 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $202.24.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on RGLD. Zacks Research lowered shares of Royal Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 19th. CIBC boosted their target price on Royal Gold from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. TD Securities reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $237.00 price target (up from $229.00) on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Friday, August 8th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $203.00.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 167.9% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 525 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $105,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB raised its position in Royal Gold by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 424,129 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $85,072,000 after buying an additional 109,981 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its stake in Royal Gold by 58.0% during the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 2,622 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $526,000 after acquiring an additional 963 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at about $201,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in Royal Gold by 34.1% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,291 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Royal Gold Stock Up 3.3%

The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $185.82 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.74. The stock has a market cap of $13.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 0.41.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $209.64 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.63 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.25 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 20.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 3rd will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is 26.39%.

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.

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