Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17, Zacks reports. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%.

Royal Gold Stock Down 4.3 %

RGLD traded down $6.66 during trading on Friday, reaching $146.83. 880,197 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 394,651. The company's 50-day moving average is $139.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $141.22. The company has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold has a 12-month low of $100.55 and a 12-month high of $155.64.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a boost 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 yield of 1.23%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio is 35.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on RGLD. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Securities upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $82,350.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.