Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Receives Average Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL has been given an average recommendation of "Hold" by the ten brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $165.43.

A number of brokerages recently commented on RGLD. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, TD Securities increased their price objective 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 Price Performance

Shares of RGLD traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $134.44. The stock had a trading volume of 361,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 362,892. Royal Gold has a 52 week low of $100.55 and a 52 week high of $155.10. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $143.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $139.44. The firm has a market cap of $8.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.83, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.89.

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

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Royal Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. Royal Gold's payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at $2,443,950. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 24.0% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $100,991,000 after acquiring an additional 156,048 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 38.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $60,514,000 after purchasing an additional 134,120 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,559,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 13,968.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $11,883,000 after buying an additional 84,092 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 187.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.