Swiss National Bank Increases Position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 129,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 900 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned 0.20% of Royal Gold worth $17,048,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in RGLD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd purchased a new position in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth about $36,000. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Royal Gold during the third quarter worth about $38,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 61.1% during the third 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $168.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This 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 is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of RGLD opened at $154.65 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $145.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $143.55. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $107.33 and a twelve month high of $158.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.68, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share 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%. Analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a $0.45 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.