Ninety One UK Ltd Reduces Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Ninety One UK Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 258,027 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 22,472 shares during the quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd owned 0.39% of Royal Gold worth $34,021,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Verity Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 6.3% during the 4th quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,906 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,965,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the last quarter. Sylvest Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $303,000. Swedbank AB boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 47.6% during the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 118,327 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $15,601,000 after purchasing an additional 38,170 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,999 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $5,538,000 after purchasing an additional 3,634 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1,904.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 33,874 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $4,466,000 after purchasing an additional 32,184 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on RGLD. Raymond James lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $168.86.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $144.48. 414,226 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 394,651. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $139.49 and a 200 day moving average of $140.72. The stock has a market cap of $9.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.14, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $193.84 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 EPS. Royal Gold's revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Royal Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

Royal Gold 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.