Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. cut its stake in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) by 36.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,023 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 3,950 shares during the quarter. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Newmont were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of Newmont by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,747,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,851,606,000 after acquiring an additional 797,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Newmont by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,484,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $1,253,457,000 after purchasing an additional 326,243 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of Newmont by 21.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,052,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $376,953,000 after buying an additional 1,226,697 shares in the last quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in shares of Newmont by 27.5% during the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,456,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,649,000 after buying an additional 744,718 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Newmont by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,422,605 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $182,938,000 after buying an additional 9,500 shares during the last quarter. 68.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on NEM shares. CLSA initiated coverage on shares of Newmont in a research note on Friday, November 29th. They issued an “underperform” rating on the stock. CIBC cut shares of Newmont from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 28th. UBS Group downgraded Newmont from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $67.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on Newmont from $47.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts downgraded Newmont from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Newmont has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $53.37.

Newmont Price Performance

Newmont stock opened at $45.25 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.73, a current ratio of 1.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.52 billion, a P/E ratio of -29.77, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $41.56 and a 200-day moving average of $46.46. Newmont Co. has a 52-week low of $29.42 and a 52-week high of $58.72.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.29. Newmont had a positive return on equity of 9.80% and a negative net margin of 7.03%. The company had revenue of $5.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Newmont Co. will post 3.11 EPS for the current year.

Newmont Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 4th. Newmont’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -65.79%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Bruce R. Brook sold 2,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $83,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 52,070 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,082,800. The trade was a 3.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total value of $128,670.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 79,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,413,872.44. This trade represents a 3.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 28,154 shares of company stock worth $1,166,843 in the last 90 days. 0.06% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Newmont Company Profile

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.