Analyst Upgrades: Kinross Gold Corporation, Newmont Mining Corp, and Royal Gold, Inc

Analysts upwardly revised their ratings and price targets on Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (KGC), Newmont Mining Corp (NEM), and Royal Gold, Inc (USA) (RGLD)

Jul 6, 2016 at 10:11 AM

Analysts are weighing in on gold stocks Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC), Newmont Mining Corp (NYSE:NEM), and Royal Gold, Inc (USA) (NASDAQ:RGLD). Here's a quick roundup of today's bullish brokerage notes on KGC, NEM, and RGLD.

KGC is up 0.4% to $5.66 after Deutsche Bank ungraded the stock to "hold" from "sell" and raised its price target to $4.50 from $3.10. Also helping gold stocks are gold prices that have soared to over two-year highs on revived "Brexit" fears. The shares of Kinross Gold Corporation have already more than tripled in 2016, hitting a two-year high of $5.82 in early May, with its 60-day moving average providing support on several recent pullbacks. Options traders have been more optimistic than usual toward the stock in recent weeks -- KGC's 50-day call/put volume ratio of 9.85 at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX) sits higher than over three-fourths of the past year's readings -- and one recent option bull in particular could be making a pretty penny on a winning bet.

Deutsche Bank also weighed in on NEM, increasing its price target to $44. The stock has added 1.1% to $40.82 today, bringing its year-to-date gains to 127%, and tapping a fresh three-year high of $41.34 along the way. Newmont Mining Corp could still benefit from more upbeat brokerage attention, as nine out of 13 analysts rate the outperformer a lukewarm "hold." Near-term options traders seem to be taking a bearish approach, as well. The stock's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.18 sits higher than 94% of all readings in the last 12 months. But with NEM climbing the charts, recent buyers of front-month puts could be sweating as expiration approaches at the close next Friday.

RGLD also hit an annual high today, at $78.66, after the stock received four upgrades to the equivalent of a "buy" rating, and no fewer than six price-target hikes. Dundee, Raymond James, and National Bank Financial all set their targets at $85 -- a level the shares of Royal Gold, Inc haven't seen since late 2012. While options traders have been picking up bullish bets at a faster-than-usual pace of late, short interest on the stock has been creeping up. In fact, these bearish positions increased by more than 11% during the most recent two-week reporting period, and now represent almost 6% of RGLD's available float. These pessimists could be betting the stock is due for a breather, considering its 14-day Relative Strength Index (RSI) now sits well into overbought territory, at 78. RGLD was last spotted up 4.3% at $78.00.

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