American Century Companies Inc. Buys 4,453 Shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 2.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 221,771 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after buying an additional 4,453 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.34% of Royal Gold worth $29,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Royal Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $18,427,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Royal Gold during the 4th quarter valued at about $11,998,000. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Royal Gold by 187.5% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 46,615 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 271.3% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 61,938 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $8,166,000 after buying an additional 45,258 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In related news, SVP Randy Shefman sold 1,300 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,450,612.80. The trade was a 12.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Royal Gold stock opened at $162.19 on Friday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a twelve month low of $118.00 and a twelve month high of $164.18. The company has a market cap of $10.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.84. The company’s 50 day moving average is $148.67 and its 200 day moving average is $144.67.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The basic materials company reported $1.63 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.46 by $0.17. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. Sell-side analysts expect that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.11%. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is currently 35.71%.

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.