Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) Shares Down 8.1% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) traded down 8.1% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $222.14 and last traded at $222.94. 910,583 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 7% from the average session volume of 974,604 shares. The stock had previously closed at $242.52.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $270.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research note on Sunday, December 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. Scotiabank downgraded Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Royal Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $251.50.

Royal Gold Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 3.12, a quick ratio of 2.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $273.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $225.23. The firm has a market cap of $18.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 0.48.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($0.76). Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.89% and a net margin of 45.26%.The firm had revenue of $360.85 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $425.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.63 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd will be paid a $0.475 dividend. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 27.90%.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

In related news, Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total transaction of $549,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,508,417.69. This trade represents a 9.07% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total value of $421,218.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 20,140 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,059,521.80. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 7,573 shares of company stock worth $2,127,091 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Royal Gold

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Elyxium Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Gen Wealth Partners Inc acquired a new position in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Bank & Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 600.0% in the 4th quarter. Bank & Trust Co now owns 140 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

About Royal Gold

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.