Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Gold Fields Call Options (NYSE:GFI)

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Stock investors purchased 6,817 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 77% compared to the typical volume of 3,853 call options.

Institutional Trading of Gold Fields

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Gold Fields in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. IFP Advisors Inc boosted its position in shares of Gold Fields by 900.0% in the second quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in shares of Gold Fields by 100.8% in the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 2,741 shares of the company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp bought a new position in shares of Gold Fields in the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Chiron Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Gold Fields in the first quarter worth approximately $68,000. 26.02% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GFI shares. UBS Group cut shares of Gold Fields from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Gold Fields from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Gold Fields from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Gold Fields from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Gold Fields Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of GFI stock opened at $17.65 on Friday. Gold Fields has a 12 month low of $10.31 and a 12 month high of $18.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $15.21 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.28.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.10. On average, analysts expect that Gold Fields will post 1.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a dividend of $0.1717 per share. This is a boost from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. This represents a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th.

Gold Fields Company Profile

Gold Fields Limited operates as a gold producer with reserves and resources in Chile, South Africa, Ghana, Canada, Australia, and Peru. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Sandton, South Africa.