Virtu Financial LLC Increases Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Virtu Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 146.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,339 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,959 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Veracity Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $209,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 21,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,784,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,700,000 after buying an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was 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 directly owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $157.01 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $146.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $110.01 and a fifty-two week high of $158.94.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.71%.

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.