Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 1,541 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $216,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1,800.2% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 19,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,306,000 after purchasing an additional 18,344 shares in the last quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 36.1% in the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 55,368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,746,000 after acquiring an additional 14,675 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 165.0% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 10,626 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 6,616 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,664,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $811,861,000 after acquiring an additional 21,407 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 357.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 51,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,473,000 after purchasing an additional 40,419 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Scotiabank upped 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 increased their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. TD Securities raised their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.43.

Royal Gold Trading Down 1.5 %

Royal Gold stock opened at $141.32 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $143.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $135.33. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $100.55 and a 12-month high of $155.10. The stock has a market cap of $9.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.41, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.76 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.07 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 4th were issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $58,452.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 8,194 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,154,124.90. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Royal Gold news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $58,452.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,154,124.90. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Randy Shefman sold 4,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.31, for a total transaction of $645,426.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,430 shares in the company, valued at $1,042,503.30. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 7,355 shares of company stock valued at $1,038,155. 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.