Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) are 6% in the red due to two factors today. First, gold spot prices have retreated by 1.33% in the morning frame as more and more investors anticipate that the Federal Reserve will raise rates during the coming FOMC meeting. If the Fed raises rates, gold demand won’t be as high and Kinross Gold won’t make as much in EBITDA. Second, shares of Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) are down following the news that unionized employees at the company’s Tasiast Mine have gone on strike. Kinross does not expect the strike to affect development of the Tasiast Phase One expansion, however, and remains open to negotiating with the labor union to resolve the strike. The stock is up by 14% year-to-date, which captured the attention of several hedge funds and Kinross saw an increase in popularity during the first quarter.
More specifically, the number of bullish hedge fund positions went up by six during the quarter and KGC was in 28 hedge funds’ portfolios at the end of the first quarter of 2016. There were 22 hedge funds in our database with KGC positions at the end of the previous quarter. At the end of this article we will also compare KGC to other stocks, including The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR), and Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) to get a better sense of its popularity.
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Of the funds tracked by Insider Monkey, Jim Simons’s Renaissance Technologies has the most valuable position in Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC), worth close to $160.3 million, corresponding to 0.3% of its total 13F portfolio. Coming in second is Kopernik Global Investors, led by David Iben, holding a $55.1 million position; 10.2% of its 13F portfolio is allocated to the company. Other members of the smart money that hold long positions contain Peter Rathjens, Bruce Clarke and John Campbell’s Arrowstreet Capital, Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management and Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group.
Since Kinross Gold saw an increase in the number of funds with long positions, let’s take a look at some investors that initiated stakes in the first three months of 2016.
Now, some big names were breaking ground themselves. Bocage Capital, managed by Kurt Billick, assembled the biggest position in Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC). Bocage Capital had $13.1 million invested in the company at the end of the first quarter. Louis Bacon’s Moore Global Investments also made a $9 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The other funds with brand new KGC positions are Eric Sprott’s Sprott Asset Management, Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, and Philippe Jabre’s Jabre Capital Partners.
Let’s check out hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) but similarly valued. We will take a look at The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:HAIN), EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR), Research In Motion Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY), and Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC). This group of stocks’ market values are closest to KGC’s market value.
| Ticker | No of HFs with positions | Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) | Change in HF Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| HAIN | 19 | 212133 | -12 |
| EPR | 16 | 183720 | 0 |
| BBRY | 24 | 673722 | 0 |
| HHC | 26 | 1031912 | -4 |
As you can see these stocks had an average of 21 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $525 million. That figure was $418 million in KGC’s case. Howard Hughes Corp (NYSE:HHC) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand EPR Properties (NYSE:EPR) is the least popular one with only 16 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks Kinross Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:KGC) is more popular among hedge funds. Considering that hedge funds are fond of this stock in relation to its market cap peers, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and potentially include it in your portfolio.
Disclosure: None
