Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Friday . The stock traded as high as $173.00 and last traded at $170.97, with a volume of 921905 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Finally, Raymond James boosted their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $170.75.

Royal Gold Trading Up 3.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $11.25 billion, a PE ratio of 33.92, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $146.28.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. Research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 35.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Veracity Capital LLC increased its stake in Royal Gold by 10.4% in the 1st quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,750 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $286,000 after purchasing an additional 165 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 201.2% in the first quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 10,388 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,699,000 after buying an additional 6,939 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 189,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $30,916,000 after buying an additional 10,049 shares during the last quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. GoalVest Advisory LLC now owns 1,505 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $246,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Royal Gold by 17,722.4% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 457,501 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $74,806,000 after acquiring an additional 454,934 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.