Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $226.25 and last traded at $224.5850, with a volume of 121532 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $222.29.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Royal Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on Royal Gold from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Royal Gold from $261.00 to $263.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial set a $264.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $234.60.

Royal Gold Trading Up 0.7%

The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $182.10. The firm has a market cap of $18.90 billion, a PE ratio of 30.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.89.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.06 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.30 by ($0.24). The company had revenue of $250.23 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $275.11 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 55.99%.Royal Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.47 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.8%. This is an increase from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 24.73%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Royal Gold

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Royal Gold by 1.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,055,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,816,267,000 after purchasing an additional 93,282 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Royal Gold by 104.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,994,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,001,885,000 after buying an additional 2,547,076 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Royal Gold by 5.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,321,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $666,300,000 after buying an additional 170,430 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 8.2% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $319,140,000 after buying an additional 137,524 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Royal Gold by 3.6% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,751,136 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $311,457,000 after buying an additional 61,352 shares during the period. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.