22,130 Shares in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) Bought by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 22,130 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,918,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 390.7% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 66.7% in the 4th quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $52,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James raised their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.75.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $155.60 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $151.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $145.57. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $118.00 and a 1 year high of $169.00.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company 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 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 1.16%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now 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 available at this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.