Martingale Asset Management L P Boosts Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Martingale Asset Management L P raised its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,230 shares of the basic materials company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,634 shares during the period. Martingale Asset Management L P owned about 0.13% of Royal Gold worth $11,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Muhlenkamp & Co. Inc. now owns 86,978 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,468,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,879 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,369,000 after acquiring an additional 611 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 25,975 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,287 shares during the last quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $1,577,000. Finally, Orion Investment Co boosted its position in Royal Gold by 64.4% during the fourth quarter. Orion Investment Co now owns 21,516 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,837,000 after purchasing an additional 8,431 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Raymond James upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $174.75.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Royal Gold stock traded up $1.31 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $183.11. The company had a trading volume of 168,489 shares, compared to its average volume of 401,243. The firm has a market cap of $12.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $118.00 and a 12-month high of $186.50. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $155.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.80.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. As a group, research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.98%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company 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.