National Bank of Canada FI Has $17.33 Million Stock Holdings in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD)

National Bank of Canada FI reduced its stake in Royal Gold, Inc. (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 123,507 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 8,224 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in Royal Gold were worth $17,328,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Royal Gold by 34.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 834,986 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $104,507,000 after buying an additional 212,316 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Royal Gold by 24.0% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 806,872 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $100,991,000 after purchasing an additional 156,048 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Royal Gold by 38.4% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 483,493 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $60,514,000 after purchasing an additional 134,120 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Royal Gold during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $15,559,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Royal Gold by 13,968.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 84,694 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $11,883,000 after buying an additional 84,092 shares in the last quarter. 83.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

RGLD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $148.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, August 19th. StockNews.com raised shares of Royal Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, September 19th. Raymond James increased their target price on shares of Royal Gold from $184.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Royal Gold from $141.00 to $154.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, TD Securities raised their price objective on Royal Gold from $181.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $165.43.

Insider Transactions at Royal Gold

In other Royal Gold news, SVP Daniel Breeze sold 840 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.43, for a total value of $120,481.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 16,842 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,415,648.06. This represents a 4.75 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director William M. Hayes sold 1,984 shares of Royal Gold stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $147.05, for a total value of $291,747.20. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 9,268 shares in the company, valued at $1,362,859.40. The trade was a 17.63 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.52% of the company’s stock.

Royal Gold Stock Performance

Royal Gold stock opened at $148.41 on Tuesday. Royal Gold, Inc. has a 52 week low of $100.55 and a 52 week high of $155.10. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $145.85 and a 200-day moving average of $137.88.

Royal Gold (NASDAQ:RGLD) (TSE:RGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.34 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $193.84 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $184.12 million. Royal Gold had a return on equity of 10.18% and a net margin of 42.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 39.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.76 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Royal Gold, Inc. will post 5.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Royal Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be paid a dividend of $0.45 per share. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This is a boost from Royal Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Royal Gold’s payout ratio is presently 41.28%.

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.