Handelsbanken Fonder AB Buys 3,700 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB increased its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 31.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,302 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 3,700 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,851,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 19.4% during the fourth quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 52,578 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $6,360,000 after purchasing an additional 8,550 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth $2,238,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the third quarter worth $1,138,000. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 28.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 45,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,825,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total value of $56,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,127 shares in the company, valued at $1,370,351. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $117.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Finally, National Bank Financial upgraded Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $143.25.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD opened at $124.58 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $114.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $114.76. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $147.82. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $8.19 billion, a PE ratio of 34.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 7.10 and a beta of 0.87.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 14th. The basic materials company reported $0.95 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.75 by $0.20. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 8.18% and a net margin of 39.53%. The company had revenue of $152.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $140.32 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 4.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 5th were paid a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.96%.

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.