Renaissance Technologies LLC Buys 786,951 Shares of Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND)

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND) by 115.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,469,501 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 786,951 shares during the quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC owned approximately 0.50% of Sandstorm Gold worth $8,200,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sprott Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 77.9% in the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 4,465,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,925,000 after buying an additional 1,955,916 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its position in Sandstorm Gold by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 399,854 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,400,000 after acquiring an additional 23,947 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC bought a new stake in Sandstorm Gold during the third quarter valued at about $600,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 501,762 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,805,000 after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Louisbourg Investments Inc. grew its position in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc. now owns 728,182 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,071,000 after purchasing an additional 108,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 51.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SAND. Scotiabank increased their target price on Sandstorm Gold from $7.25 to $8.25 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised Sandstorm Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. HC Wainwright dropped their target price on shares of Sandstorm Gold from $12.00 to $11.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of Sandstorm Gold from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Raymond James restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Sandstorm Gold in a report on Friday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $9.06.

Sandstorm Gold Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of Sandstorm Gold stock opened at $8.50 on Friday. Sandstorm Gold Ltd. has a 52-week low of $4.92 and a 52-week high of $8.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 169.93 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.29. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $6.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $6.17.

Sandstorm Gold (NYSE:SAND) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $47.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $67.49 million. Sandstorm Gold had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 0.98%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.04) EPS. On average, analysts expect that Sandstorm Gold Ltd. will post 0.18 EPS for the current year.

Sandstorm Gold Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $0.014 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. Sandstorm Gold’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

About Sandstorm Gold

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.