Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,690,000 shares, a growth of 15.0% from the March 15th total of 11,900,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 13,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. CIBC lifted their target price on Kinross Gold from $7.00 to $8.15 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. National Bank Financial reaffirmed an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TheStreet downgraded Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com raised Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Kinross Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.28.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinross Gold

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 790.0% in the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,450 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 3,950 shares during the period. S.A. Mason LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. Finally, CWM LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 353.2% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,378 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 5,750 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

Kinross Gold Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE KGC traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $6.31. 19,345,379 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,111,113. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $5.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.55. Kinross Gold has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $6.81.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Kinross Gold had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 9.82%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.09 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Kinross Gold will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinross Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Kinross Gold’s payout ratio is currently 35.29%.

Kinross Gold Company Profile

Kinross Gold Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the acquisition, exploration, and development of gold properties principally in the United States, Brazil, Chile, Canada, and Mauritania. The company operates the Fort Knox mine and the Manh Choh project in Alaska, as well as the Round Mountain and the Bald Mountain mines in Nevada, the United States; the Paracatu mine in Brazil; the La Coipa and the Lobo-Marte project in Chile; the Tasiast mine in Mauritania; and the Great Bear project in Canada.