Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $159.23 and last traded at $156.01, with a volume of 74393 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $157.01.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Royal Gold Trading Up 1.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $10.54 billion, a PE ratio of 31.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s fifty day moving average is $147.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $144.26.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.12%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Capital World Investors increased its position in Royal Gold by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,156,842,000 after acquiring an additional 37,648 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $877,058,000 after purchasing an additional 89,298 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,454,000 after purchasing an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $135,730,000 after purchasing an additional 168,569 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% in the fourth quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,412,000 after buying an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. 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.