Cerity Partners LLC Purchases 17,227 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 114.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 17,227 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $4,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Royal Gold by 92.4% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 44,790 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $6,284,000 after buying an additional 21,510 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 479,140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $67,223,000 after acquiring an additional 1,641 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Premier Fund Managers Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 3rd quarter worth $1,034,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold in the 3rd quarter worth $62,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

RGLD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.43.

Royal Gold Trading Down 0.4 %

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $145.67 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $145.34 and its 200 day moving average is $136.93. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12 month low of $100.55 and a 12 month high of $155.10. The company has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The firm had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.12 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.76 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 3rd. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 41.28%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 840 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.43, for a total transaction of $120,481.20. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,415,648.06. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of Royal Gold 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

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.