Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Kinross Gold Call Options (NYSE:KGC)

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 15,681 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 92% compared to the typical daily volume of 8,175 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Kinross Gold

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Kinross Gold by 1.1% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 45,429,935 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $278,486,000 after acquiring an additional 497,531 shares in the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,095,000. Gabelli Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Gabelli Funds LLC now owns 5,194,500 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,218,000 after purchasing an additional 194,700 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Kinross Gold in the 1st quarter valued at about $3,199,000. Finally, Artemis Investment Management LLP bought a new position in Kinross Gold during the first quarter worth about $9,732,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

Kinross Gold Stock Up 2.2 %

KGC traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $10.25. 7,268,573 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 15,200,954. The stock has a market cap of $12.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.88, a PEG ratio of 0.54 and a beta of 1.24. Kinross Gold has a 1-year low of $4.75 and a 1-year high of $10.29. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $9.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $8.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The mining company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. Kinross Gold had a net margin of 10.91% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.14 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Kinross Gold will post 0.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinross Gold Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 22nd were given a dividend of $0.03 per share. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 22nd. Kinross Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 33.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. CIBC boosted their price objective on Kinross Gold from $8.15 to $12.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Kinross Gold from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinross Gold from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Kinross Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.50.

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.