Findlay Park Partners LLP Purchases Shares of 1,190,967 Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Findlay Park Partners LLP bought a new position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD – Get Rating) (TSE:RGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,190,967 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $134,246,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 66.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,153,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $588,192,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,360 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the 1st quarter worth approximately $56,762,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 566.9% in the 3rd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 451,081 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $42,321,000 after acquiring an additional 383,444 shares during the period. Kopernik Global Investors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Kopernik Global Investors LLC now owns 735,963 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $69,048,000 after acquiring an additional 191,036 shares during the period. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 58.9% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 382,274 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $54,007,000 after acquiring an additional 141,661 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 78.13% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, Director William M. Hayes sold 2,140 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.50, for a total transaction of $304,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,401,060. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, COO Mark Isto sold 9,660 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.89, for a total value of $1,370,657.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 30,437 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,318,705.93. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 2,140 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $142.50, for a total transaction of $304,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 9,832 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,401,060. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 13,895 shares of company stock worth $1,972,930 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. National Bankshares reduced their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $165.00 to $160.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 5th. TheStreet lowered shares of Royal Gold from a “b+” rating to a “c” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 3rd. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered shares of Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $119.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 21st. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from C$155.00 to C$165.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.63.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD opened at $127.04 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $133.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.41. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $84.54 and a 52 week high of $147.82. The company has a market capitalization of $8.33 billion, a PE ratio of 35.19, a PEG ratio of 3.41 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a quick ratio of 3.23 and a current ratio of 3.44.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD – Get Rating) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 3rd. The basic materials company reported $0.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.94 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $170.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $162.77 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 38.80% and a return on equity of 8.18%. Royal Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.99 EPS. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 3.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 21st. Investors of record on Thursday, April 6th were paid a dividend of $0.375 per share. This represents a $1.50 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 5th. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 41.55%.

Royal Gold Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Royal Gold, Inc engages in the acquisition and management of precious metal streams, royalties, and similar interests. It operates through the Acquisition and Management of Stream Interests, and Acquisition and Management of Royalty Interests segments. The Acquisition and Management of Stream Interests segment focuses on metal streams, which are purchase agreements that provide, in exchange for an upfront deposit payment, the right to purchase all or a portion of one or more metals produced, at a price determined for the life of the transaction.