Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI Makes New Investment in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 9,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in RGLD. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 390.7% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 368 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 66.7% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 395 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $52,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Royal Gold in the fourth quarter valued at $73,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on RGLD shares. Raymond James increased their price target on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on shares of Royal Gold in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. They issued a “market perform” rating and a $196.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $189.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Royal Gold from $202.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $183.00.

Royal Gold Trading Up 2.6%

Shares of Royal Gold stock opened at $177.56 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $170.64 and a 200-day simple moving average of $152.83. The stock has a market cap of $11.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.23, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.48. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12-month low of $119.72 and a 12-month high of $191.78.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The basic materials company reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.14. The firm had revenue of $193.44 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $176.17 million. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. Royal Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 29.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, April 4th were paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 29.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.98, for a total transaction of $201,474.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.49% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.