Virtu Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 3,380 Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,380 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $474,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,507,000 after acquiring an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,991,000 after acquiring an additional 156,048 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,514,000 after acquiring an additional 134,120 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold in the 2nd quarter valued at $15,559,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 13,968.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,883,000 after acquiring an additional 84,092 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Royal Gold Trading Down 2.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $146.93 on Monday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.55 and a 12-month high of $155.10. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $146.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.47.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. TD Securities upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.43.

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.