Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Newmont (NYSE:NEM)

Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 53,748 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 26% compared to the average daily volume of 42,662 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on NEM. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Newmont from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of Newmont to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Newmont from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Raymond James boosted their price target on shares of Newmont from $54.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Newmont from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Newmont currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $54.09.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Natascha Viljoen sold 9,000 shares of Newmont stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total transaction of $386,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 136,967 shares in the company, valued at $5,874,514.63. This trade represents a 6.17 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total transaction of $128,670.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 79,596 shares in the company, valued at $3,413,872.44. This represents a 3.63 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 19,154 shares of company stock worth $825,678 over the last quarter. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Newmont during the fourth quarter worth $626,074,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Newmont in the 4th quarter worth about $92,693,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Newmont by 70.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,644,953 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $210,105,000 after purchasing an additional 2,338,953 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Newmont during the 4th quarter valued at about $76,281,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Newmont by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,520,354 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $391,568,000 after buying an additional 2,028,150 shares during the period. 68.85% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Newmont Price Performance

Shares of NYSE NEM opened at $51.06 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $57.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.54. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $45.05. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Newmont has a 1-year low of $36.60 and a 1-year high of $58.72.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.29. The company had revenue of $5.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. Newmont had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 17.92%. Analysts anticipate that Newmont will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Newmont Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 4th were paid a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. Newmont’s payout ratio is currently 34.13%.

About Newmont

Newmont Corporation engages in the production and exploration of gold. It also explores for copper, silver, zinc, and lead. The company has operations and/or assets in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Peru, Suriname, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador, Fiji, and Ghana.