Bard Associates Inc. Trims Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Bard Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 2.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 18,562 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 521 shares during the quarter. Bard Associates Inc.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,604,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 224.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 609,760 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,276,000 after acquiring an additional 422,026 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 34.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,507,000 after acquiring an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Royal Gold by 24.0% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,991,000 after purchasing an additional 156,048 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 38.4% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $60,514,000 after acquiring an additional 134,120 shares during the period. Finally, Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the second quarter worth about $15,559,000. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 840 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $143.43, for a total transaction of $120,481.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,842 shares in the company, valued at $2,415,648.06. The trade was a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 9,339 shares of company stock valued at $1,329,902. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD opened at $139.80 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $143.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.39. The stock has a market cap of $9.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.12 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1-year low of $100.55 and a 1-year high of $155.10.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The business had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $184.12 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.13 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 18th. Investors of record on Friday, October 4th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.14%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on RGLD. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $165.43.

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.