Baird Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Position in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 13.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,015 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,693 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $16,517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,698,891 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,095,336,000 after purchasing an additional 46,956 shares during the period. Findlay Park Partners LLP lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Findlay Park Partners LLP now owns 1,241,030 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $202,921,000 after buying an additional 16,600 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 6.3% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 933,488 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $152,628,000 after buying an additional 55,685 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 776,840 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $127,021,000 after buying an additional 17,649 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 17,722.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 457,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $74,806,000 after buying an additional 454,934 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $179.58 on Tuesday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $130.67 and a fifty-two week high of $191.78. The company has a market capitalization of $11.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.33, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $166.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.08.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.70 by $0.11. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 13.30% and a net margin of 56.24%.The business had revenue of $209.64 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $186.63 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.25 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 20.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 17th. Investors of record on Friday, October 3rd will be given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 3rd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is 26.39%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on RGLD shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $197.00 price target on Royal Gold and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Royal Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 19th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $237.00 price target (up from $229.00) on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Friday, August 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Royal Gold from $202.00 to $203.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 11th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $198.63.

Royal Gold Company 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.