Kinross Gold Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:KGC)

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock traders bought 14,125 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 101% compared to the typical daily volume of 7,035 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on KGC shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Kinross Gold from $5.00 to $6.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 22nd. TheStreet downgraded Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. National Bank Financial reissued an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on Kinross Gold from $7.00 to $8.15 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.44.

Kinross Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE KGC traded up $0.36 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $7.13. 13,180,226 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,508,833. Kinross Gold has a 12 month low of $4.32 and a 12 month high of $7.20. The firm has a market cap of $8.75 billion, a PE ratio of 21.12, a PEG ratio of 2.09 and a beta of 1.14. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 2.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $6.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.73.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The mining company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by $0.04. Kinross Gold had a return on equity of 8.85% and a net margin of 9.82%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Kinross Gold will post 0.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinross Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 5th. This represents a $0.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.68%. Kinross Gold’s payout ratio is 35.29%.

Institutional Trading of Kinross Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Kinross Gold by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,404,283 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $202,484,000 after acquiring an additional 463,035 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 23.5% during the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 947,037 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $5,707,000 after acquiring an additional 179,933 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 975.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 555,458 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,543,000 after buying an additional 503,799 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 2,846,537 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $17,285,000 after buying an additional 124,055 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in Kinross Gold by 24.9% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 8,046,094 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $36,680,000 after purchasing an additional 1,603,951 shares in the last quarter. 63.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.