Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Purchased by KBC Group NV

KBC Group NV grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1,904.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,184 shares during the quarter. KBC Group NV owned approximately 0.05% of Royal Gold worth $4,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Veracity Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake 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 worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 2.3% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 5,330 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 51.7% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 1,273 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $168,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.8 %

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $141.33 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.55 and a 52 week high of $155.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $139.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $140.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.29 billion, a PE ratio of 32.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The firm had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James raised their target price on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities upped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

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.