Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Reaches New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $159.23 and last traded at $156.01, with a volume of 74393 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.01.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

The business has a 50-day moving average of $146.33 and a 200 day moving average of $143.94. The stock has a market cap of $10.38 billion, a PE ratio of 31.32, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. Equities analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,156,842,000 after buying an additional 37,648 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $877,058,000 after buying an additional 89,298 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after acquiring an additional 33,151 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,730,000 after acquiring an additional 168,569 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Royal Gold by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,412,000 after acquiring an additional 152,599 shares in the last quarter. 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.