Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) Reaches New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $30.08 and last traded at $29.5820, with a volume of 2574469 shares. The stock had previously closed at $28.30.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on KGC. CIBC increased their target price on Kinross Gold from $36.00 to $37.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Kinross Gold from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Kinross Gold in a research report on Thursday, October 23rd. Cormark downgraded shares of Kinross Gold from a “moderate buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Kinross Gold from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 20th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.81.

Kinross Gold Trading Up 3.3%

The stock has a market cap of $35.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 2.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $26.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $22.31.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $1.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.72 billion. Kinross Gold had a return on equity of 22.25% and a net margin of 27.30%.Kinross Gold’s quarterly revenue was up 25.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.24 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Kinross Gold Corporation will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

Kinross Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, December 10th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 26th were issued a dividend of $0.035 per share. This represents a $0.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 26th. This is a positive change from Kinross Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.03. Kinross Gold’s payout ratio is presently 9.79%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Kinross Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Kinross Gold in the second quarter valued at $389,025,000. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 7,825,336 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc increased its stake in shares of Kinross Gold by 47.8% in the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 16,739,969 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $261,646,000 after buying an additional 5,411,491 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Kinross Gold by 81.2% during the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,073,665 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $126,191,000 after acquiring an additional 3,617,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, AustralianSuper Pty Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Kinross Gold by 127.2% in the second quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 6,107,913 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $95,509,000 after acquiring an additional 3,419,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.