BDF Gestion Has $2.62 Million Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

BDF Gestion cut its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 8.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 19,885 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,744 shares during the quarter. BDF Gestion’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $2,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 187.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 127,285 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $18,049,000 after buying an additional 83,015 shares during the last quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 213.1% during the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 8,051 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,130,000 after buying an additional 5,480 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Royal Gold during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,201,000. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 114.5% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 32,268 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,527,000 after buying an additional 17,227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 35.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 178,719 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $25,074,000 after buying an additional 46,615 shares during the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Royal Gold Trading Down 1.1 %

RGLD opened at $137.46 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $9.04 billion, a PE ratio of 31.53, a P/E/G ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 0.90. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 1 year low of $100.55 and a 1 year high of $155.10. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $140.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $140.58.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $193.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. Royal Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.76 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.16 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Friday, January 3rd were paid a $0.45 dividend. This is a positive change from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is currently 41.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on RGLD. Jefferies Financial Group raised Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $154.00 to $178.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. Raymond James raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $168.86.

Insider Activity at Royal Gold

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

About Royal Gold

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.