Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $158.94 and last traded at $157.39, with a volume of 35459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.09.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $10.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $144.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $143.45.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. On average, analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC bought a new position in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 61.1% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 290 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $42,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Company 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.