3,449 Shares in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Bought by Merit Financial Group LLC

Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,449 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $455,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,514,000 after acquiring an additional 134,120 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the second quarter worth about $15,559,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 13,968.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $11,883,000 after buying an additional 84,092 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 187.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at $11,246,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the business’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 owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,950. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,362,859.40. This trade represents a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. TD Securities increased their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Price Performance

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $138.81 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $140.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $140.40. The company has a market capitalization of $9.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 0.85 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $184.12 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Royal Gold’s revenue was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

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.