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

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors bought 16,451 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 19% compared to the average daily volume of 13,814 call options.

Kinross Gold Price Performance

NYSE:KGC opened at $36.52 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $28.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.73. The firm has a market cap of $43.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.54, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.68 and a current ratio of 2.83. Kinross Gold has a one year low of $10.28 and a one year high of $36.57.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 4th. The mining company reported $0.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.72 billion. Kinross Gold had a return on equity of 22.25% and a net margin of 27.30%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. Research analysts expect that Kinross Gold will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Kinross Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.035 per share. This is a positive change from Kinross Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. This represents a $0.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. Kinross Gold’s payout ratio is presently 9.79%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on KGC. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. CIBC lifted their price objective on shares of Kinross Gold from $37.00 to $38.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Desjardins began coverage on shares of Kinross Gold in a report on Friday, November 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on Kinross Gold from $33.00 to $37.50 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cormark cut Kinross Gold from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $30.56.

Institutional Trading of Kinross Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. raised its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 161.9% in the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 22,578 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $636,000 after acquiring an additional 13,958 shares during the period. Genesis Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Kinross Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $639,000. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Kinross Gold in the 4th quarter worth about $236,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new position in Kinross Gold during the fourth quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Kinross Gold by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,785,483 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $78,459,000 after purchasing an additional 50,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

Kinross Gold Company Profile

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE: KGC) is a Toronto-based precious metals mining company primarily focused on the exploration, development and production of gold, with silver recovered as a by-product at some operations. The company’s activities span the full mining lifecycle, including discovery and resource delineation, mine construction and operation, ore processing, and eventual site reclamation and closure. Kinross sells refined gold produced at its processing facilities and manages associated logistics and processing arrangements to deliver metal to market.

Kinross operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects across multiple regions, with a significant presence in the Americas and West Africa.