Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) Short Interest Update

Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM - Get Free Report) was the target of a large decline in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 16,580,000 shares, a decline of 25.7% from the March 15th total of 22,310,000 shares. Approximately 1.4% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 13,870,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.2 days.

Institutional Trading of Newmont

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Newmont by 43.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 118,749,923 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $4,915,059,000 after acquiring an additional 36,170,995 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in Newmont by 57.2% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 51,290,469 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $2,122,913,000 after acquiring an additional 18,664,614 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Newmont by 44.9% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,639,109 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $1,019,813,000 after acquiring an additional 7,635,657 shares during the period. First Eagle Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Newmont by 29.9% in the 4th quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC now owns 23,756,158 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $983,267,000 after acquiring an additional 5,475,155 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Newmont in the 4th quarter worth approximately $604,516,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 68.85% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on NEM shares. National Bank Financial reiterated an "outperform overweight" rating on shares of Newmont in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Newmont from $50.00 to $43.50 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 28th. Argus lowered shares of Newmont from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Newmont from $60.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Newmont in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $38.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Newmont has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $51.97.

Newmont Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE NEM traded down $0.42 on Friday, reaching $38.65. 24,331,226 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,762,309. Newmont has a fifty-two week low of $29.42 and a fifty-two week high of $51.46. The company has a 50 day moving average of $34.30 and a 200 day moving average of $36.79. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.55 billion, a PE ratio of -16.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 0.50.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The basic materials company reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Newmont had a positive return on equity of 6.21% and a negative net margin of 20.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.44 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Newmont will post 2.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 5th were issued a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 4th. Newmont's payout ratio is currently -42.02%.

About Newmont

Newmont Corporation engages in the production and exploration of gold. It also explores for copper, silver, zinc, and lead. The company has operations and/or assets in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Peru, Suriname, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador, Fiji, and Ghana.