Franklin Resources Inc. Acquires 603,803 Shares of Equinox Gold Corp. $EQX

Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:EQX) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,449,178 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 603,803 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.58% of Equinox Gold worth $174,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in EQX. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Equinox Gold by 91.3% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 96,024,048 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,077,394,000 after acquiring an additional 45,820,861 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Equinox Gold in the fourth quarter worth approximately $141,388,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Equinox Gold in the third quarter worth approximately $40,600,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Equinox Gold by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,714,751 shares of the company’s stock worth $431,665,000 after acquiring an additional 3,250,135 shares during the period. Finally, Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. raised its position in Equinox Gold by 717.8% in the third quarter. Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. now owns 3,526,159 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,564,000 after acquiring an additional 3,094,966 shares during the period. 38.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce upgraded shares of Equinox Gold from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Equinox Gold from a “buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their price target on shares of Equinox Gold from $17.00 to $14.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Equinox Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $14.00.

Equinox Gold Stock Down 3.5%

Shares of EQX stock opened at $10.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $8.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.08 and a beta of 1.18. Equinox Gold Corp. has a one year low of $5.61 and a one year high of $18.96. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $13.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10, a current ratio of 1.24 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Equinox Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:EQX) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $861.59 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.94 million. Equinox Gold had a net margin of 21.72% and a return on equity of 10.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 224.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.08) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Equinox Gold Corp. will post 1.27 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Equinox Gold Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 21st were given a dividend of $0.015 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 21st. Equinox Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 11.11%.

Equinox Gold Profile

Equinox Gold Corp is a Canadian gold mining company headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company focuses on the acquisition, development, and operation of gold properties, with an emphasis on open-pit heap leach mining. Since its inception, Equinox Gold has pursued a strategy of combining assets in established jurisdictions to build a diversified portfolio that balances production and growth, while maintaining rigorous safety and environmental standards.

Equinox Gold’s operating portfolio spans three countries.