Cannell & Co. Makes New $2.42 Million Investment in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Cannell & Co. bought a new position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 20,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,419,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,303,377 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $520,536,000 after buying an additional 22,701 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 82,276 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,952,000 after buying an additional 256 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $242,000. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $201,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 526.3% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 238 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.00, for a total transaction of $56,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,127 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,370,351. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $120.85 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 2.31, a quick ratio of 2.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $147.82. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $115.26. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.94 billion, a PE ratio of 33.20, a P/E/G ratio of 6.87 and a beta of 0.88.

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

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 5th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of Royal Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $148.00 to $158.00 in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $117.00 target price on the stock. National Bank Financial raised shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 15th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded shares of Royal Gold from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” 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 assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $143.25.

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.