Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Stock Holdings Lifted by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,157 shares of the basic materials company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.'s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $3,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Veracity Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $209,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 21,112 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,784,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Royal Gold by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,894 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,300 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,413,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC raised its position in Royal Gold by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the business'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 owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RGLD traded down $1.14 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $185.31. 177,981 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,450. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $156.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $147.34. The company has a market cap of $12.19 billion, a PE ratio of 36.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.00 and a 1 year high of $191.22.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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, research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on RGLD. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased 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 report on Friday, April 4th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday. They set a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $178.00.

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.