Sterling Capital Management LLC Acquires 1,387 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 55.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 3,892 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,387 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth $44,009,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 181.6% during the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 302,206 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $39,846,000 after purchasing an additional 194,905 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $18,427,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $11,998,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Royal Gold by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $877,058,000 after purchasing an additional 89,298 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD opened at $184.90 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $156.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $147.34. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $118.00 and a fifty-two week high of $191.22. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.17 billion, a PE ratio of 36.69, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77.

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

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.97%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James increased their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “market perform” rating and a $196.00 target price for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $178.00.

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.