Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives $165.43 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $165.43.

RGLD has been the topic of several research reports. Scotiabank increased their target price on Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Raymond James boosted their target price on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th.

Royal Gold Stock Up 3.5 %

Shares of Royal Gold stock traded up $5.26 on Wednesday, hitting $153.48. 151,616 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 370,230. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $138.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.89. Royal Gold has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $155.10.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $184.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Royal Gold will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost from Royal Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 3,373 shares of company stock valued at $494,578. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 51.7% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 361 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

About Royal Gold

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.