Short Interest in Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) Grows By 15.0%

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of 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. Currently, 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 13,700,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.0 days.

Institutional Trading of Kinross Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KGC. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 6.0% during the fourth quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 38,057 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $225,000 after buying an additional 2,157 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 130,473 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $790,000 after buying an additional 2,204 shares during the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 19.1% during the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 14,258 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $65,000 after buying an additional 2,290 shares during the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 3.1% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 76,554 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $361,000 after buying an additional 2,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 6.6% during the first quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 38,262 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $180,000 after buying an additional 2,377 shares during the last quarter. 63.69% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KGC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. TheStreet cut shares of Kinross Gold from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, February 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Kinross Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. National Bank Financial reiterated an “outperform overweight” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. They set a “hold” rating and a $5.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, CIBC boosted 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 equities research 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.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.28.

Kinross Gold Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of KGC traded down $0.10 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $6.31. 19,345,379 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 14,111,113. The firm has a market cap of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.56, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.15. Kinross Gold has a 12-month low of $4.32 and a 12-month high of $6.81. The company has a current ratio of 2.63, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $5.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.55.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.09 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Kinross Gold will post 0.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Kinross Gold Dividend Announcement

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

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.