Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Buys 100 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Royal Gold by 61.1% in the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 51.7% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 361 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total value of $82,350.00. Following 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. TD Securities increased their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Raymond James raised their target price on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Down 4.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $146.83 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.64. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $139.57 and its 200-day moving average is $141.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.66 billion, a PE ratio of 33.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.90.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

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.