Van ECK Associates Corp Has $446.58 Million Stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD - Free Report) TSE: RGL by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,387,000 shares of the basic materials company's stock after selling 250,739 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned approximately 5.15% of Royal Gold worth $446,576,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 51.7% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 361 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company's stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD stock traded down $6.66 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $146.83. 880,197 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 394,651. The firm has a market cap of $9.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.68, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.90. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $139.57 and its 200-day simple moving average is $141.20. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $155.64.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD - Get Free Report) TSE: RGL last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. On average, research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Royal Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. Royal Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.28%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the firm'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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on RGLD shares. Raymond James upped their target price on shares of 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 raised shares of Royal Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $168.86.

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.