Newmont Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:NEM)

Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) was the recipient of some unusual options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 111,438 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 139% compared to the average daily volume of 46,549 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on NEM shares. Argus set a $63.00 price objective on Newmont in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Cfra Research raised Newmont to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Newmont from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Newmont from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, National Bankshares reiterated a “sector perform” rating on shares of Newmont in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $56.52.

Insider Activity

In other Newmont news, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total value of $131,130.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 86,526 shares in the company, valued at $3,782,051.46. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Bruce R. Brook sold 2,077 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.71, for a total value of $90,785.67. Following the transaction, the director now owns 47,916 shares in the company, valued at $2,094,408.36. This trade represents a 4.15% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 7,154 shares of company stock worth $328,840 over the last quarter. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in Newmont by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 49,747,598 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,851,606,000 after purchasing an additional 797,445 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Newmont by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,697,779 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $919,484,000 after buying an additional 1,213,397 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Newmont in the fourth quarter valued at $626,074,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Newmont by 8.9% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 16,014,066 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $773,159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,306,783 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Newmont by 1.5% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 12,934,095 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $624,458,000 after buying an additional 191,940 shares during the period. 68.85% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Newmont Stock Performance

Shares of NEM stock opened at $53.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.96 and a quick ratio of 1.73. The business has a fifty day moving average of $50.96 and a 200 day moving average of $45.21. Newmont has a 1 year low of $36.86 and a 1 year high of $58.72.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The basic materials company reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.54. The company had revenue of $5.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.82 billion. Newmont had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 17.92%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Newmont will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Newmont Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 27th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.86%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 27th. Newmont’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 22.42%.

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.