Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Sold by BDF Gestion

BDF Gestion trimmed its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,744 shares during the period. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Swedbank AB raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 47.6% in the 4th quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 118,327 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $15,601,000 after purchasing an additional 38,170 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 41,999 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,538,000 after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 1,904.4% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 33,874 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,466,000 after acquiring an additional 32,184 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 574 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $82,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,443,950. This represents a 3.26 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. This represents a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on RGLD. TD Securities upped their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James upped their price target on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target 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, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $137.46 on Thursday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.10. The stock has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.53, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. The business has a fifty day moving average of $140.01 and a 200-day moving average of $140.58.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.