Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to 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 trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $155.09.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.1 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $145.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $143.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84.

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 return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid 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 payout ratio is 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total value of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 8,773,925 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,156,842,000 after purchasing an additional 37,648 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,651,935 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $877,058,000 after acquiring an additional 89,298 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $185,454,000 after acquiring an additional 33,151 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 19.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,029,431 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $135,730,000 after acquiring an additional 168,569 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 997,054 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $131,412,000 after acquiring an additional 152,599 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.