Xponance Inc. Boosts Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 6.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 13,688 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 781 shares during the period. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $1,805,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in RGLD. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,321,555 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $185,454,000 after purchasing an additional 33,151 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 484,207 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,843,000 after purchasing an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 179,029 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,605,000 after purchasing an additional 3,286 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 35.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $25,074,000 after purchasing an additional 46,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $18,427,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 83.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $168.86.

Royal Gold Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NASDAQ:RGLD opened at $157.01 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $146.33 and a 200 day moving average of $143.89. The stock has a market cap of $10.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 12 month low of $110.01 and a 12 month high of $158.94.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a net margin of 46.15% and a return on equity of 11.46%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.15%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of Royal Gold 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.52% of the stock is currently 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.