Caledonia Mining Corporation PLC (AIM:CMCL, NYSE-A:CMCL) offers some 69% upside to the market price, according stockbroker Liberum, which today repeated a ‘buy’ recommendation and pitched a 1,431p price target.
It comes after Caledonia announced its regular quarterly dividend, US$0.14 per share, its latest payment since the gold miner began payouts in 2012.
Liberum analyst Yen Low, in a note, meanwhile, said that Caledonia is on-track “to hit the top end” of its reiterated production guidance range of 73,000 to 80,000 ounce for the year. Moreover, the analyst repeated an opinion that Caledonia may in fact exceed the target range to reach up to 81,000 ounces.
“Even if FY22 production proves ‘only’ in line with guidance, Caledonia would still have outperformed many Africa-focused peers over the last few years (in terms of meeting production targets),” Low added.
“Furthermore, Caledonia ranks amongst the lowest-cost of African producers and is a consistent dividend payer.”
Caledonia chief executive Mark Learmoth, this morning, meanwhile, said: “The dividend continues to be a central part of our strategy, as we continue to manage returning money to shareholders with production growth and de-risking the business from being a single asset producer.”
The Zimbabwe mining company added that it will restart the oxides operation at the recently-acquired Bilboes project, 75km north of Bulawayo. It is part of the company’s bid to become a ‘multi-asset gold producer’. With this in mind, it is assessing further opportunities in Zimbabwe.