Investors Buy Large Volume of Kinross Gold Call Options (NYSE:KGC)

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 11,920 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 67% compared to the typical volume of 7,143 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in Kinross Gold in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. S.A. Mason LLC acquired a new position in Kinross Gold in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Kinross Gold by 790.0% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 4,450 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 3,950 shares in the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 353.2% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 7,378 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 5,750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Natixis acquired a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

Kinross Gold Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of KGC opened at $6.38 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $5.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $5.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 1.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a current ratio of 2.63. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.09 by $0.02. Kinross Gold had a net margin of 9.82% and a return on equity of 8.85%. The firm had revenue of $1.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.09 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Kinross Gold will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinross Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 6th were given a $0.03 dividend. This represents a $0.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 5th. Kinross Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 35.29%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. TheStreet cut shares of Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a report on Friday, February 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Kinross Gold in a report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $5.00 price target for the company. National Bank Financial restated an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a report on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com raised shares of Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, CIBC upped their price objective on shares of Kinross Gold from $7.00 to $8.15 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.