Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $209.60 and last traded at $209.42, with a volume of 1070178 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $203.14.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on RGLD. Raymond James Financial set a $264.00 target price on Royal Gold in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Royal Gold from $193.00 to $203.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $270.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.60.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $18.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $191.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $181.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23, a current ratio of 2.89 and a quick ratio of 2.68.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 5th. The basic materials company reported $2.06 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.30 by ($0.24). Royal Gold had a return on equity of 14.14% and a net margin of 55.99%.The firm had revenue of $250.23 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $275.11 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.47 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 30.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 2nd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 24.73%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Royal Gold

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 valued at $1,816,267,000 after acquiring an additional 93,282 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 104.1% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,994,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,001,885,000 after acquiring an additional 2,547,076 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,321,868 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $666,300,000 after purchasing an additional 170,430 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Royal Gold by 8.2% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,820,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $319,140,000 after buying an additional 137,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Royal Gold by 3.6% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,751,136 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $311,457,000 after buying an additional 61,352 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.