Sheets Smith Wealth Management Purchases New Stake in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

Sheets Smith Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 2,316 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Capital World Investors raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,055,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,816,267,000 after acquiring an additional 93,282 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 104.1% in the third 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. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,321,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $666,300,000 after purchasing an additional 170,430 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,140,000 after purchasing an additional 137,524 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Royal Gold by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,030,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $206,698,000 after purchasing an additional 6,710 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

RGLD has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank cut Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price target on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Royal Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $260.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 4,173 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $277.07, for a total value of $1,156,213.11. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,129 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,698,162.03. This represents a 40.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total value of $421,218.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president owned 20,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,059,521.80. The trade was a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 7,573 shares of company stock worth $2,127,091. 0.49% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of Royal Gold stock opened at $262.63 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $268.53 and a 200 day moving average of $229.48. The firm has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.57, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 0.55.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($0.76). Royal Gold had a net margin of 45.26% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The business had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.47 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.63 EPS. Royal Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 27.90%.

Royal Gold 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.