Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) from a buy rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note released on Sunday.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on KGC. Desjardins initiated coverage on Kinross Gold in a research report on Friday, November 28th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (a)” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group set a $43.00 price target on Kinross Gold in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Kinross Gold from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $54.00 target price on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.81.

Kinross Gold Stock Up 1.6%

KGC stock opened at $36.09 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $43.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 0.38 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 2.35, a quick ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. Kinross Gold has a twelve month low of $10.32 and a twelve month high of $39.11. The company’s 50 day moving average is $32.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $26.95.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The mining company reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.55 by $0.12. Kinross Gold had a net margin of 33.90% and a return on equity of 28.22%. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 42.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Kinross Gold will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Kinross Gold Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 26th. Investors of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.04 per share. This is a boost from Kinross Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.04. This represents a $0.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Kinross Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 7.14%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinross Gold

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Kinross Gold in the second quarter valued at about $389,025,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Kinross Gold by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 107,960,623 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,682,791,000 after purchasing an additional 7,825,336 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Kinross Gold by 4,443.4% during the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 6,738,699 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $189,808,000 after purchasing an additional 6,590,380 shares during the period. Man Group plc raised its stake in shares of Kinross Gold by 47.8% during the 2nd quarter. Man Group plc now owns 16,739,969 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $261,646,000 after buying an additional 5,411,491 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Kinross Gold by 81.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,073,665 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $126,191,000 after buying an additional 3,617,320 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

About Kinross Gold

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.