VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Has $1.08 Million Position in Royal Gold, Inc. $RGLD

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lowered its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 77.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 4,850 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 16,950 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth $30,000. Bank & Trust Co grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 600.0% during 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 period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 8,400.0% during the 3rd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 170 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 168 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on RGLD. Scotiabank lowered shares of Royal Gold from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $335.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, January 26th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, February 4th. National Bank Financial lowered their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 17th. UBS Group set a $325.00 target price on shares of Royal Gold and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $273.64.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total transaction of $421,218.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 20,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,059,521.80. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,000 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.74, for a total transaction of $243,740.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,082 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,213,646.68. This represents a 9.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 8,573 shares of company stock valued at $2,370,831. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold Price Performance

RGLD opened at $228.32 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $251.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $240.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 3.26 and a current ratio of 3.52. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $150.75 and a 52 week high of $306.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.38 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.43.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by ($0.76). The firm had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.47 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 12.63% and a net margin of 48.59%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 85.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 11.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 2nd were given a dividend of $0.475 per share. This represents a $1.90 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 2nd. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 22.65%.

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.