Baird Financial Group Inc. Acquires 1,069 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 89,322 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,069 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $11,777,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in 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. boosted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% in 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 buying an additional 89,298 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Royal Gold by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,730,000 after acquiring an additional 168,569 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $131,412,000 after purchasing an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 877,803 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $115,735,000 after purchasing an additional 49,206 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

RGLD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Raymond James raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets started coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $196.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $178.00.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Down 1.0 %

NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $182.65 on Thursday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $119.72 and a twelve month high of $191.78. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $166.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $151.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.02 billion, a PE ratio of 36.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.48.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.14. The company had revenue of $193.44 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $176.17 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 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.