Sandstorm Gold Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SAND)

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 4,331 call options on the company. This is an increase of 209% compared to the typical volume of 1,400 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sandstorm Gold

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd increased its position in Sandstorm Gold by 219.0% during the third quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 47,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $286,000 after acquiring an additional 32,766 shares during the last quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP grew its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 132,996 shares of the company’s stock valued at $798,000 after purchasing an additional 16,779 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC purchased a new stake in Sandstorm Gold in the 3rd quarter worth about $600,000. Walleye Capital LLC lifted its stake in Sandstorm Gold by 285.7% in the third quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 92,919 shares of the company’s stock worth $558,000 after purchasing an additional 68,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Trading LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sandstorm Gold during the third quarter valued at approximately $85,000. Institutional investors own 51.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SAND. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Sandstorm Gold from $6.75 to $7.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on shares of Sandstorm Gold from $12.00 to $11.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Sandstorm Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sandstorm Gold has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $8.56.

Sandstorm Gold Price Performance

SAND stock traded up $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $7.54. 1,383,428 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,128,583. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $6.26 and a 200 day simple moving average of $5.98. Sandstorm Gold has a 52 week low of $4.92 and a 52 week high of $7.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 151.33 and a beta of 1.06.

Sandstorm Gold (NYSE:SAND) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.04 by ($0.03). Sandstorm Gold had a return on equity of 0.98% and a net margin of 8.11%. The company had revenue of $47.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.49 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.04) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Sandstorm Gold will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sandstorm Gold Company Profile

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. operates as a gold royalty company. The company focuses on acquiring royalties and gold and other metals purchase agreements from companies that have advanced stage operating mines. It offers upfront payments for companies to acquire a stream and receives the right to purchase a percentage of a mine's production for the life of the mine.