State Street Corp Lowers Stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

State Street Corp cut its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 9.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,369,615 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 331,423 shares during the period. State Street Corp owned 5.12% of Royal Gold worth $472,757,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 357.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,719 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $6,473,000 after acquiring an additional 40,419 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Royal Gold by 75.8% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 65,293 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $8,174,000 after purchasing an additional 28,163 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,201,000. Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 187.5% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 114.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,268 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,527,000 after buying an additional 17,227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of Royal Gold stock traded up $4.15 on Monday, hitting $148.41. 418,416 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,357. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $155.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.89. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $145.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.74.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given 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 yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on RGLD. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James upped their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Securities lifted 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $165.43.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This represents a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 840 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.43, for a total value of $120,481.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,842 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,415,648.06. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.