K2 Principal Fund L.P. Makes New Investment in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

K2 Principal Fund L.P. bought a new position in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 10,625 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,362,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Royal Gold by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 9,733,807 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,163,732,000 after acquiring an additional 678,732 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Royal Gold by 25.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,867,001,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681,577 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 18.1% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 5,900,432 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,311,607,000 after acquiring an additional 905,488 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,952,363 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $434,063,000 after purchasing an additional 78,344 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

RGLD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday. National Bank Financial dropped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $280.70.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.74, for a total value of $243,740.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,213,646.68. This trade represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of RGLD opened at $207.57 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.41. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $150.75 and a twelve month high of $306.25. The company has a quick ratio of 3.26, a current ratio of 3.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $237.29 and a two-hundred day moving average of $245.35.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 16th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.65%.

Royal Gold Company 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.