Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Now Covered by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on shares of Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in a research note published on Wednesday morning. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $196.00 target price on the basic materials company’s stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James boosted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $178.00.

Royal Gold Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of RGLD opened at $184.90 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $12.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s fifty day moving average is $157.56 and its 200-day moving average is $147.64. Royal Gold has a 12 month low of $118.00 and a 12 month high of $191.22.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. As a group, research analysts predict that Royal Gold will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.97%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in Royal Gold by 38.1% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,718 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $608,000 after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the 1st quarter worth about $214,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 44.9% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 17,725 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,898,000 after acquiring an additional 5,496 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 7,920.7% during the 1st quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 15,079 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,466,000 after acquiring an additional 14,891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 61.7% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 29,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,899,000 after acquiring an additional 11,435 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

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.