Legal & General Group Plc Sells 43,334 Shares of Centerra Gold Inc. $CGAU

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Centerra Gold Inc. (NYSE:CGAU) by 4.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,038,763 shares of the company’s stock after selling 43,334 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc owned about 0.52% of Centerra Gold worth $14,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Burkett Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Centerra Gold in the third quarter valued at $30,000. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in Centerra Gold by 1,106.5% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 2,980 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 2,733 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in Centerra Gold by 63.0% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 4,758 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 1,839 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC bought a new stake in Centerra Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in Centerra Gold in the 4th quarter valued at about $72,000. 55.40% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CGAU shares. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Centerra Gold in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Centerra Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Centerra Gold from $19.00 to $21.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Centerra Gold in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Centerra Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Centerra Gold presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $16.67.

Centerra Gold Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CGAU opened at $17.41 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.91 and a 200 day moving average of $16.75. The company has a current ratio of 2.41, a quick ratio of 1.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.81 and a beta of 0.79. Centerra Gold Inc. has a 12 month low of $6.71 and a 12 month high of $21.17.

Centerra Gold (NYSE:CGAU) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $484.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $373.47 million. Centerra Gold had a net margin of 40.32% and a return on equity of 14.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Centerra Gold Inc. will post 1.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Centerra Gold Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 4th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.07 per share. This represents a $0.28 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.6%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 21st. Centerra Gold’s payout ratio is presently 6.77%.

Centerra Gold Profile

Centerra Gold Inc is a gold mining company incorporated in Canada and headquartered in Toronto. The company specializes in the exploration, development and operation of precious metals properties, with a focus on gold production. Centerra’s portfolio includes the Mount Milligan mine in British Columbia, Canada, and the Otjikoto mine in Namibia. Both operations produce gold and copper concentrates and employ modern mining methods and processing facilities to optimize recovery rates and minimize environmental impact.

In addition to its producing assets, Centerra is advancing the development of its Greenstone Gold Project in Ontario, Canada, which, upon completion, is expected to become one of Canada’s largest gold mines.