115,102 Shares in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD Acquired by Legal & General Group Plc

Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 115,102 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,976,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,177,865,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in Royal Gold by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,733,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,163,732,000 after buying an additional 678,732 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 18.1% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,900,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,311,607,000 after acquiring an additional 905,488 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,718,646 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $826,618,000 after purchasing an additional 396,778 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,952,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $434,063,000 after buying an additional 78,344 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Friday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Royal Gold from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $310.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Royal Gold from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on Royal Gold from $318.00 to $311.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, July 6th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $285.10.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $262.80, for a total transaction of $131,400.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 8,082 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,123,949.60. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $262.85 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a current ratio of 2.92. The company has a market capitalization of $22.27 billion, a PE ratio of 28.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $215.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $236.73. Royal Gold, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $168.88 and a fifty-two week high of $306.25.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.56 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.01. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 47.74%.The business had revenue of $468.98 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $458.85 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.81 EPS. Royal Gold’s revenue was up 114.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 10.26 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be issued a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 2nd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 20.74%.

Royal Gold Profile

Royal Gold, Inc, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is a leading precious metals streaming and royalty company. Through its business model, Royal Gold provides upfront financing to mining operators in exchange for the right to purchase a percentage of future metal production at predetermined prices. This structure allows the company to participate in production upside while minimizing exposure to the operating and capital-intensive aspects of mine ownership.

The company’s portfolio encompasses interests in over 200 streams and royalties on projects across North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Australia.