Dana Investment Advisors Inc. Sells 666 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Dana Investment Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 22,267 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 666 shares during the quarter. Dana Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,936,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,443,950. This trade represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on RGLD. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $154.17 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $141.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $142.75. Royal Gold, Inc. has a one year low of $107.33 and a one year high of $155.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.14 billion, a PE ratio of 30.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

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.