Russell Investments Group Ltd. Trims Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 219,737 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 15,394 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $26,579,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 12,032.4% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 183,685 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $22,219,000 after buying an additional 182,171 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,280,676 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $455,165,000 after purchasing an additional 54,449 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 236,621 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,160,000 after purchasing an additional 51,795 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 261.9% during the 3rd quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 47,225 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,021,000 after purchasing an additional 34,175 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 157.1% during the 3rd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 51,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $5,463,000 after purchasing an additional 31,399 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $56,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,370,351. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.6 %

Royal Gold stock opened at $120.85 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 2.31 and a quick ratio of 2.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.20, a PEG ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.88. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $147.82. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $115.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $115.26.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.20. The firm had revenue of $152.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $140.32 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 39.53%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 43.96%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on RGLD shares. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Royal Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price objective on the stock. National Bank Financial raised Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $143.25.

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.