Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives $174.75 Average Price Target from Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $178.00.

Several research firms have commented on RGLD. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank raised Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Royal Gold in a research note on Wednesday. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective on the stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its position in Royal Gold by 390.7% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $49,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Royal Gold by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $184.90 on Tuesday. Royal Gold has a 12-month low of $118.00 and a 12-month high of $191.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $156.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $147.34.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Royal Gold 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

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.