Aviva PLC Sells 441 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Aviva PLC reduced its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,163 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 441 shares during the quarter. Aviva PLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $549,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 14.6% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 50,346 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $7,064,000 after purchasing an additional 6,428 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the third quarter valued at $268,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted 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 valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in Royal Gold by 2.5% during the third quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 26,083 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $3,659,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 2.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RGLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.75.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of Royal Gold stock opened at $179.58 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $118.00 and a 52-week high of $181.51. The company has a fifty day moving average of $154.43 and a 200-day moving average of $146.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. On average, equities research analysts forecast 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 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.00%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Company Profile

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.