Iamgold Corp. (IAG, Financial) skyrocketed 5% to $5.58 per share on April 13 on the heels of
Bank of America’s upgrade.
According to a research note, the U.S. bank upgraded shares of Iamgold to a buy rating from neutral.
This marks the miner's fourth upgrade in one year. It was preceded by the following three: CIBC (neutral to outperform) on Sept. 6, 2017, BMO Capital (market perform to outperform) on Aug. 23 and Credit Suisse (to neutral) on May 10.
During the same period, Iamgold also received a downgrade (buy to hold) from Canaccord Genuity on Sept. 29.
BMO Capital (to market perform) initiated coverage of Iamgold on Feb. 2, 2017.
Bank of America’s upgraded rating leaves the average target price unchanged at $7.65 per share.
That is an average of 13 analysts' estimates, which range from $6.25 to $9.05. The average target price represents 37% growth from the current share price.
As of this month, seven analysts out of a total 13 suggest buying the stock, while the remainder recommend holding the position.
The average recommendation rating is 2.2 out of 5.
Iamgold has gained 26% for the 52 weeks through April 13, outperforming the Van Eck Vectors Gold Miners exchange-traded fund (GDX, Financial) by 32%. The company's market capitalization is $2.46 billion.
The 52-week range is $3.55 to $7.25. The chart below shows Iamgold is trading below its 200-day simple moving average line and mimicking the 100-day line:
The price-book ratio is 0.92 versus the industry median of 2.06 times. The EV/EBITDA ratio is 2.48 versus the industry median of 9.90 times.
GuruFocus assigns the mid-tier gold producer a financial strength rating of 7 out of a total of 10 and a profitability and growth rating of 6 out of 10.
Iamgold has approximately 466.43 million outstanding shares, of which 70.43% is held by institutions. Among the top institutional investors, Van Eck Associates Corp. stands out with 13.06% of outstanding shares as of Dec. 30, 2017.
During the last quarter of 2017, Donald Smith (Trades, Portfolio) and Jim Simons (Trades, Portfolio) increased their positions, while Pioneer Investments (Trades, Portfolio) established a holding. Jeremy Grantham (Trades, Portfolio) reduced his holding by 58.94% to 684,600 shares.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any security mentioned in this article.
