Royce & Associates LP Has $833,000 Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Royce & Associates LP lessened its position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 73.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,320 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 17,500 shares during the quarter. Royce & Associates LP’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $833,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of RGLD. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,427,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $11,998,000. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Royal Gold by 187.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after purchasing an additional 83,015 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Royal Gold in the third quarter valued at approximately $11,246,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 35.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 46,615 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ RGLD opened at $157.01 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12 month low of $108.95 and a 12 month high of $158.94. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $146.33 and a 200-day moving average of $143.83. The company has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. Analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.15%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. 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 insiders.

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.