Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

Kinross Gold Co. (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) saw a large growth in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,770,000 shares, a growth of 24.7% from the September 30th total of 8,640,000 shares. Currently, 0.9% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average trading volume of 15,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

Institutional Trading of Kinross Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KGC. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Kinross Gold by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 44,932,404 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $271,841,000 after purchasing an additional 528,121 shares during the period. Advisor Resource Council acquired a new position in shares of Kinross Gold in the first quarter worth $60,000. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of Kinross Gold by 1.7% in the first quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 649,871 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $4,128,000 after acquiring an additional 10,820 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Kinross Gold by 9.5% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 150,960,083 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $925,392,000 after acquiring an additional 13,099,791 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pullen Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Kinross Gold in the first quarter worth $1,149,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.69% of the company’s stock.

Kinross Gold Price Performance

KGC stock traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $10.48. The stock had a trading volume of 8,626,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,195,121. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $9.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $8.53. Kinross Gold has a twelve month low of $4.75 and a twelve month high of $10.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.10, a PEG ratio of 0.55 and a beta of 1.24.

Kinross Gold (NYSE:KGC) (TSE:K) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The mining company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.13 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.20 billion. Kinross Gold had a net margin of 10.91% and a return on equity of 9.32%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.14 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Kinross Gold will post 0.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KGC has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Kinross Gold from $9.50 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. CIBC increased their price target on Kinross Gold from $8.15 to $12.00 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com downgraded Kinross Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Kinross Gold from $9.00 to $10.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.50.

About Kinross Gold

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.