Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD) Rating Lowered to Hold at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research downgraded Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD) from a "strong-buy" to a "hold"; the stock still carries a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average analyst target of $59 (three Buys, two Holds).
• Gold.com reported a quarterly earnings beat with EPS of $0.91 versus $0.70 expected and revenue of $6.48 billion versus $3.41 billion expected, and shares were noted as up about 5.3% on the report.
• The board authorized a large share repurchase plan enabling buybacks of up to 7.9% of shares, even as insiders have sold heavily recently (504,239 shares sold in the last 90 days, CEO and a director notably reducing holdings).

Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on GOLD. Roth Mkm set a $60.00 target price on shares of Gold.com in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Weiss Ratings began coverage on shares of Gold.com in a research report on Wednesday, January 14th. They issued a "hold (c-)" rating for the company. Northland Securities raised shares of Gold.com from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $57.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their target price on shares of Gold.com from $53.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $59.00.

Gold.com Stock Up 5.3%

Shares of GOLD stock opened at $45.78 on Tuesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $50.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Gold.com has a 12-month low of $19.39 and a 12-month high of $66.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 97.41 and a beta of 0.50.

Gold.com (NYSE:GOLD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The company reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.21. Gold.com had a net margin of 0.08% and a return on equity of 7.56%. The company had revenue of $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.41 billion.

Gold.com declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, April 8th that allows the company to repurchase 2,000,000,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 7.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Gold.com

In other Gold.com news, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.16, for a total value of $5,052,800.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 28,202 shares in the company, valued at $1,781,238.32. This trade represents a 73.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jess M. Ravich sold 62,204 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $63.49, for a total transaction of $3,949,331.96. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 9,900 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $628,551. This represents a 86.27% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 504,239 shares of company stock valued at $29,856,403. Corporate insiders own 0.63% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Gold.com

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC acquired a new stake in Gold.com in the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Gold.com in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Caitong International Asset Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in Gold.com in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in Gold.com in the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System acquired a new stake in Gold.com in the fourth quarter valued at $55,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.85% of the company's stock.

About Gold.com

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates in three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins. This segment also offers various ancillary services, including financing, storage, consignment, logistics, and various customized financial programs; and designs and produces minted silver products.

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