Banco Santander S.A. Reduces Position in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM)

Banco Santander S.A. reduced its stake in Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) by 46.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 6,078 shares of the basic materials company’s stock after selling 5,346 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Newmont were worth $226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in NEM. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in 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 grew its holdings in Newmont by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,484,382 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,253,457,000 after buying an additional 326,243 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Newmont by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,052,439 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $376,953,000 after acquiring an additional 1,226,697 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Newmont by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,850,404 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $254,972,000 after acquiring an additional 92,354 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Newmont by 27.5% in the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 3,456,456 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $128,649,000 after acquiring an additional 744,718 shares during the last quarter. 68.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on NEM shares. Raymond James decreased their price target on shares of Newmont from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Newmont from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of Newmont in a research report on Monday, January 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $47.20 price objective for the company. CLSA started coverage on Newmont in a report on Friday, November 29th. They set an “underperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Bernstein Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Newmont from $55.00 to $58.00 in a research note on Monday, November 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $53.16.

Newmont Stock Performance

Shares of Newmont stock opened at $42.30 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $47.67 billion, a PE ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.54. Newmont Co. has a 1 year low of $33.29 and a 1 year high of $58.72. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $45.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.96.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.40 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $5.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.32 billion. Newmont had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 17.92%. Equities analysts forecast that Newmont Co. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 4th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 4th. Newmont’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Newmont

In other Newmont news, COO Natascha Viljoen sold 9,000 shares of Newmont stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.00, for a total value of $360,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 145,967 shares in the company, valued at $5,838,680. The trade was a 5.81 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total value of $131,130.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 86,526 shares in the company, valued at $3,782,051.46. The trade was a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,231 shares of company stock worth $1,388,758 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Newmont 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.