Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Sells 1,900 Shares of Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System cut its stake in shares of Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 65,200 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 1,900 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Newmont were worth $2,730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in NEM. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Newmont by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 7,788 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $322,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its holdings in Newmont by 346.9% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 3,647 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $151,000 after acquiring an additional 2,831 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC grew its holdings in Newmont by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 13,492 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $558,000 after acquiring an additional 3,420 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in Newmont by 59.4% during the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 343,599 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $14,222,000 after acquiring an additional 128,044 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in Newmont during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,348,000. 68.85% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Newmont Stock Up 1.2 %

Newmont stock opened at $52.04 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.85, a current ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. Newmont Co. has a 12-month low of $29.42 and a 12-month high of $52.40. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $46.36 and its 200 day moving average is $40.67. The company has a market capitalization of $60.01 billion, a PE ratio of -19.49, a PEG ratio of 0.37 and a beta of 0.47.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The basic materials company reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.62 by $0.10. Newmont had a negative net margin of 13.16% and a positive return on equity of 8.35%. The company had revenue of $4.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.13 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. Newmont’s quarterly revenue was up 64.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Newmont Co. will post 2.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 5th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.92%. Newmont’s payout ratio is presently -37.45%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Newmont news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.51, for a total transaction of $990,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 311,469 shares in the company, valued at $15,420,830.19. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of Newmont from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $48.00 to $59.00 in a report on Monday, August 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Newmont from $56.00 to $57.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Newmont from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 8th. TD Securities upped their price objective on shares of Newmont from $43.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Finally, BNP Paribas raised shares of Newmont to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $50.92.

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.