Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) Short Interest Up 15.0% in March

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in 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 company’s shares are short sold.

Kinross Gold Stock Performance

NYSE KGC traded down $0.10 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $6.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 19,345,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,111,113. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 2.63 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $5.59 and a 200 day moving average price of $5.55. The firm has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.15. Kinross Gold has a 52 week low of $4.32 and a 52 week high of $6.81.

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

Kinross Gold Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Kinross Gold

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 1.1% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,404,283 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $202,484,000 after purchasing an additional 463,035 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Kinross Gold by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 947,037 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $5,707,000 after buying an additional 179,933 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Kinross Gold by 975.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 555,458 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,543,000 after buying an additional 503,799 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $36,680,000 after buying an additional 1,603,951 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sprott Inc. boosted its stake in Kinross Gold by 56.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 1,866,520 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $8,511,000 after buying an additional 676,798 shares in the last quarter. 63.69% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KGC. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Kinross Gold in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $5.00 price target on the stock. National Bank Financial reissued an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com upgraded Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. CIBC raised their price objective on Kinross Gold from $7.00 to $8.15 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, TheStreet lowered Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $6.28.

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.