Brokerages Set Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Target Price at $157.00

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $157.00.

RGLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Royal Gold from $168.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Raymond James raised their target price on Royal Gold from $167.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America increased their price target on Royal Gold from $129.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Royal Gold to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th.

Royal Gold Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $141.80 on Friday. Royal Gold has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $147.65. The stock has a market cap of $9.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.83, a PEG ratio of 1.15 and a beta of 0.90. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $137.69 and a 200-day moving average of $129.29.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.18 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $174.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $172.12 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 39.15% and a return on equity of 8.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 4th will be issued a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.13%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 47.20%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,659,182.21. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CFO Paul Libner sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $142.53, for a total transaction of $213,795.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 18,657 shares in the company, valued at $2,659,182.21. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Ronald J. Vance sold 415 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 8,194 shares in the company, valued at $1,154,124.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 8,355 shares of company stock worth $1,170,315 over the last three months. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,169,223 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $988,149,000 after buying an additional 47,807 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position 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 worth $811,861,000 after purchasing an additional 21,407 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 6.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 3,584,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $448,694,000 after purchasing an additional 20,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 34.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 212,316 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.