New Gold Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:NGD)

New Gold Inc. (NYSE:NGD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Investors purchased 15,711 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 390% compared to the average volume of 3,205 call options.

New Gold Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE NGD traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $2.93. The stock had a trading volume of 4,949,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,028,593. The stock has a market cap of $2.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -30.05 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $2.77. New Gold has a twelve month low of $1.03 and a twelve month high of $3.25.

New Gold (NYSE:NGD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.01 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $218.20 million for the quarter. New Gold had a positive return on equity of 5.22% and a negative net margin of 2.53%. Equities research analysts predict that New Gold will post 0.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of New Gold

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of New Gold by 57.3% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 16,328,086 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,229,000 after buying an additional 5,948,394 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in New Gold by 8.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 72,499,714 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,249,000 after acquiring an additional 5,613,145 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in New Gold by 13.5% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 20,111,264 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,217,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399,200 shares in the last quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of New Gold by 40.4% during the 2nd quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC now owns 5,210,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,160,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499,745 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of New Gold by 196.2% during the 2nd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 2,060,975 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,065,000 after purchasing an additional 1,365,089 shares in the last quarter. 42.82% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NGD. Scotiabank lifted their target price on New Gold from $2.75 to $3.25 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. CIBC boosted their price objective on shares of New Gold from $3.00 to $3.40 and gave the stock an “outperformer” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of New Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on New Gold from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts upgraded New Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $2.74.

About New Gold

New Gold Inc, an intermediate gold mining company, develops and operates of mineral properties in Canada. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and copper deposits. The company’s principal operating properties include 100% interest in the Rainy River mine located in Northwestern Ontario, Canada; and New Afton project situated in South-Central British Columbia.