Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, one has issued a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $225.40.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial set a $264.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Royal Gold from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. TD Cowen upped their target price on Royal Gold from $261.00 to $263.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Zacks Research upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $192.38 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $16.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.21, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 0.39. Royal Gold has a 12 month low of $130.67 and a 12 month high of $209.42. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $189.08 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.53.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $250.23 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.11 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 56.24% and a return on equity of 13.30%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 26.10%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 120.6% in the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,189 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. First Affirmative Financial Network bought a new position in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $206,000. First Commonwealth Financial Corp PA acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth about $704,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 8,400.0% in the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 168 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 19.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,055 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $412,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. 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.