Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Lowered to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $130.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. CIBC boosted their price objective on Royal Gold from $166.00 to $175.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Royal Gold from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Royal Gold to a hold rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $157.00.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.3 %

NASDAQ RGLD opened at $136.55 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $135.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.23. The firm has a market cap of $8.98 billion, a PE ratio of 40.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold has a 52 week low of $100.55 and a 52 week high of $142.77.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $174.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $172.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.15% and a return on equity of 8.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 4.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 47.20%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In related news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $140.85, for a total value of $58,452.75. Following the sale, the director now owns 8,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,124.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the director now directly owns 8,194 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,154,124.90. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Paul Libner sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.53, for a total value of $213,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 18,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,659,182.21. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 7,515 shares of company stock worth $1,049,834. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,169,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $988,149,000 after purchasing an additional 47,807 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Royal Gold by 0.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,664,975 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $811,861,000 after purchasing an additional 21,407 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Royal Gold by 6.8% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,595,734 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $559,807,000 after purchasing an additional 292,357 shares in the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,667,169 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $443,581,000 after acquiring an additional 37,885 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,507,000 after acquiring an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.