National Bank of Canada FI Has $15.13 Million Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

National Bank of Canada FI lowered its holdings in shares of Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 114,773 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,734 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned approximately 0.17% of Royal Gold worth $15,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Veracity Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Royal Gold by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 1,585 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $209,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC raised its stake in Royal Gold by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 21,112 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $2,784,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in Royal Gold by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 12,894 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,700,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its stake in Royal Gold by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 18,300 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $2,413,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Royal Gold by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,075 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $405,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 9,360 shares in the company, valued at $1,450,612.80. This trade represents a 12.20 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on RGLD shares. Raymond James increased their target price on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $175.00 to $170.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Royal Gold presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $170.75.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Shares of RGLD stock opened at $155.60 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.87, a PEG ratio of 3.42 and a beta of 0.77. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52-week low of $118.00 and a 52-week high of $169.00. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $151.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.49.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last released 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 return on equity of 11.46% and a net margin of 46.15%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 6.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Royal Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 4th will be given a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 4th. Royal Gold’s dividend payout ratio is presently 35.71%.

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.