Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Bought by Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 21.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,508 shares of the basic materials company's stock after buying an additional 2,939 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board's holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.4% in 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 in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Royal Gold by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,894 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $1,700,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 21,772 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,871,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 value of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank upgraded Royal Gold from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday. They set a "market perform" rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $178.00.

Royal Gold Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD traded down $1.55 during trading on Friday, hitting $184.90. 566,791 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 403,132. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $157.56 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.64. 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 quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. Research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

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

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.