Gold Fields Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:GFI)

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders acquired 6,817 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 77% compared to the typical volume of 3,853 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ballentine Partners LLC raised its stake in Gold Fields by 6.9% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 14,017 shares of the company’s stock valued at $223,000 after purchasing an additional 901 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its holdings in shares of Gold Fields by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 14,813 shares of the company’s stock worth $235,000 after acquiring an additional 1,789 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in Gold Fields by 4.9% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 521,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $8,291,000 after acquiring an additional 24,231 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Gold Fields by 78.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,098 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gold Fields during the first quarter valued at about $310,000. Institutional investors own 26.02% of the company’s stock.

Gold Fields Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GFI opened at $17.65 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $15.21 and a 200-day moving average of $14.31. The stock has a market cap of $15.80 billion, a PE ratio of 11.10 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.25. Gold Fields has a fifty-two week low of $10.31 and a fifty-two week high of $18.97.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.10. Equities research analysts anticipate that Gold Fields will post 1.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 15th were issued a $0.1717 dividend. This represents a yield of 2.5%. This is an increase from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th. Gold Fields’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 22.01%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Gold Fields from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $14.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Gold Fields from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded Gold Fields from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut Gold Fields from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $13.67.

About Gold Fields

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.