Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) Short Interest Down 15.9% in April

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) was the target of a large decline in short interest in April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,510,000 shares, a decline of 15.9% from the March 31st total of 13,690,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 14,980,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days. Approximately 0.9% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on KGC. TheStreet lowered shares of Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. National Bank Financial reiterated an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Kinross Gold from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, CIBC upped their target price on shares of Kinross Gold from $7.00 to $8.15 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Kinross Gold currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $6.44.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinross Gold

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KGC. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $265,327,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 9.5% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 150,960,083 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $925,392,000 after buying an additional 13,099,791 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 96.1% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,736,328 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $53,518,000 after buying an additional 5,752,397 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 183.9% in the fourth quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 4,445,008 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $26,990,000 after buying an additional 2,879,269 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triasima Portfolio Management inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 110.4% in the fourth quarter. Triasima Portfolio Management inc. now owns 4,885,850 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $29,627,000 after buying an additional 2,563,850 shares in the last quarter. 63.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Kinross Gold Stock Performance

KGC traded down $0.39 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $6.45. 17,334,035 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,603,897. The firm has a market cap of $7.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $5.89 and its 200 day moving average is $5.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. Kinross Gold has a one year low of $4.32 and a one year high of $6.87.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. Kinross Gold had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.09 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Kinross Gold will post 0.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Kinross Gold Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 6th were issued a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. Kinross Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.