Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Position in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 8.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,929,665 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 274,201 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $584,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of RGLD. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 99.5% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 168,846 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $27,608,000 after purchasing an additional 84,206 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 51.5% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 8,465 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,384,000 after purchasing an additional 2,876 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Royal Gold by 28.9% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $631,000 after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in Royal Gold by 43.0% in the 2nd quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 188,247 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,478,000 after purchasing an additional 56,621 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its stake in Royal Gold by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 24,551 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,366,000 after buying an additional 1,072 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

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 value of $131,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 8,082 shares in the company, valued at $2,123,949.60. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

RGLD opened at $262.85 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $215.06 and its 200 day moving average is $236.73. The company has a current ratio of 2.92, a quick ratio of 2.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The company has a market cap of $22.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.70, a PEG ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.44. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $168.88 and a 12-month high of $306.25.

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

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.475 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 2nd. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 20.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on RGLD shares. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on Royal Gold from $310.00 to $305.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 9th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $310.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings lowered Royal Gold from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research cut Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on Royal Gold from $280.00 to $285.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $285.10.

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.