423,397 Shares in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Acquired by Select Equity Group L.P.

Select Equity Group L.P. bought a new position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 423,397 shares of the basic materials company's stock, valued at approximately $55,825,000. Select Equity Group L.P. owned 0.64% of Royal Gold at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its position in Royal Gold by 390.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in Royal Gold by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $52,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Finally, Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $73,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on RGLD. Scotiabank raised Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets started coverage on Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. They set a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Raymond James lifted their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, CIBC lifted their target price on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $183.00.

Royal Gold Price Performance

NASDAQ:RGLD traded up $4.46 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $177.56. The stock had a trading volume of 479,067 shares, compared to its average volume of 416,918. The company has a market capitalization of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.48. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $119.72 and a 1-year high of $191.78. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $170.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $152.83.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is currently 29.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

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

Royal Gold Company 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.