Yamana Gold Shares Gap up Following Dividend Announcement (AUY)

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company, Analyst reports. The stock had previously closed at $8.50, but opened at $8.52. Yamana Gold shares last traded at $8.63, with a volume of 5,124,794 shares changing hands.

The newly announced dividend is scheduled for Tuesday, October 14th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be given a dividend of $0.0375 per share. This represents a $0.15 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 26th.

A number of research firms have recently commented on AUY. Analysts at Raymond James upgraded shares of Yamana Gold from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. They now have a $10.50 price target on the stock, up previously from $10.00. Separately, analysts at Canaccord Genuity cut their price target on shares of Yamana Gold from C$13.00 to C$12.50 in a research note on Thursday. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, analysts at TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Yamana Gold in a research note on Thursday. They now have a $9.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $9.50. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. The stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $11.47.

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $8.27 and its 200-day moving average is $8.65. The company’s market cap is $6.690 billion.

Yamana Gold (NYSE:AUY) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the analysts’ consensus estimate of $0.03 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $450.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $437.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.07 earnings per share. Yamana Gold’s revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Yamana Gold will post $0.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Yamana Gold Inc (NYSE:AUY) is a gold producer, engaged in gold production, gold development stage properties, exploration properties and land positions in Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and Colombia.

Courtesy: www.wkrb13.com