Zacks Research Downgrades Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) to Strong Sell

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued reports about the company. National Bank Financial lowered their price objective on Royal Gold from $350.00 to $340.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. UBS Group set a $325.00 price objective on Royal Gold and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. 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 research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce restated a “neutral” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Royal Gold in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $273.64.

Royal Gold Price Performance

Shares of RGLD opened at $236.88 on Tuesday. Royal Gold has a 1 year low of $150.75 and a 1 year high of $306.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12, a current ratio of 3.12 and a quick ratio of 2.91. The company has a market capitalization of $20.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $258.49 and a 200-day moving average of $238.21.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $310.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $425.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.63 earnings per share. Royal Gold’s revenue was up 85.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Royal Gold will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $300.87, for a total value of $421,218.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 20,140 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,059,521.80. This trade represents a 6.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mark Isto sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.83, for a total value of $549,660.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,043 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,508,417.69. This trade represents a 9.07% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 7,573 shares of company stock valued at $2,127,091. Company insiders own 0.35% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of RGLD. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 104.1% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 4,994,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,001,885,000 after purchasing an additional 2,547,076 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,398,944 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,867,001,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681,577 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors bought a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $332,026,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 89.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,855,877 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $412,543,000 after purchasing an additional 874,329 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 457.5% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen LLC now owns 925,906 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $205,820,000 after purchasing an additional 759,810 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.