Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lowered its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,860 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,271 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned 0.12% of Royal Gold worth $11,204,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of RGLD. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 13.8% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,398 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $676,000 after purchasing an additional 656 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the 2nd quarter valued at about $427,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold in the 2nd quarter valued at about $323,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $104,507,000 after acquiring an additional 212,316 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. increased its position in shares of Royal Gold by 40.0% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management UK Ltd. now owns 7,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $876,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on RGLD shares. StockNews.com upgraded Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. TD Securities increased their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Raymond James lifted their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Royal Gold has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $165.43.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

RGLD stock opened at $145.68 on Tuesday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a one year low of $100.55 and a one year high of $155.10. The firm has a market cap of $9.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.41, a PEG ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $146.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $138.59.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. Royal Gold had a net margin of 42.93% and a return on equity of 10.18%. The company had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.76 earnings per share. Royal Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 39.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 549 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $150.00, for a total transaction of $82,350.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 16,293 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,443,950. The trade was a 3.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total transaction of $291,747.20. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Royal Gold 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.