UBS Group Upgrades Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) to Strong-Buy

Key Points

• UBS Group upgraded Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) to a "strong-buy" rating; the Street consensus remains a Moderate Buy with a $267 average price target.
• Quarterly results missed estimates — EPS $1.92 vs. $2.68 expected and revenue $310.8M vs. $425.5M expected — but revenue grew 85.2% year-over-year and net margin was 45.3%.
• Institutional ownership is high at 83.65% after large purchases by VanEck, Vanguard and others, while insiders have sold 7,573 shares in the last 90 days and now own about 0.49%.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL was upgraded by investment analysts at UBS Group to a "strong-buy" rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

RGLD has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank downgraded Royal Gold from a "sector outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and set a $335.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research downgraded Royal Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $267.00.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $270.00 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.65, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 0.55. Royal Gold has a 1-year low of $150.75 and a 1-year high of $306.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.12 and a quick ratio of 2.91. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $266.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $233.66.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.68 by ($0.76). The firm had revenue of $310.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.47 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.63 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Royal Gold will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total transaction of $549,660.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,043 shares in the company, valued at $5,508,417.69. The trade was a 9.07% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total value of $421,218.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 20,140 shares in the company, valued at $6,059,521.80. This represents a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 7,573 shares of company stock worth $2,127,091. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,994,944 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,001,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,076 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 25.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,867,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,577 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $332,026,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 89.1% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,855,877 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $412,543,000 after purchasing an additional 874,329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 457.5% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 925,906 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $205,820,000 after purchasing an additional 759,810 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Gold Company Profile

Royal Gold, Inc, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company. Through its business model, Royal Gold provides upfront financing to mining operators in exchange for the right to purchase a percentage of future metal production at predetermined prices. This structure allows the company to participate in production upside while minimizing exposure to the operating and capital-intensive aspects of mine ownership.

The company's portfolio encompasses interests in over 200 streams and royalties on projects across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.

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