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Credit Suisse sees scope for higher than average dividend yields at Randgold
Analysts at Credit Suisse stuck by their 'neutral' recommendation on shares of Randgold Resources but expressed surprise at management's decision the day before regarding the size of its dividend payout and what that said about their willingness to return any excess capital to shareholders.
Indeed, its proposed $190m payout meant the outfit was in effect paying out almost all cash in excess of its target $500m cash buffer.
"While reinvestment opportunities are on the horizon, namely Massawa, we take a more bullish stance on dividends in the coming years seeing the potential for yields of over 5% YE2019E, well above the majority of its gold peers," they said.
Credit Suisse also noted Randgold Chief Mark Bristow's comments regarding the potentially "serious" impact that the Democratic Republic of Congo's proposed higher royalties might have on reinvestment in the region in the future.
At the time, the Swiss broker's forecasts were predicated on 2018 gold price of $1,375/oz. and consensus estimates calling for a year-end 2018 yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury note of 2.90%.
The broker also expected investors to allocated more funds to gold given the later-stage of the current bull market in stocks and projected a "constrained" supply environment, with a 1% drop expected in mine supply.
The target price was kept at 7,160p.