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

Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM - Get Free Report) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Investors bought 53,748 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 26% compared to the typical volume of 42,662 call options.

Insider Transactions at Newmont

In other Newmont news, Director Bruce R. Brook sold 2,077 shares of Newmont stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.89, for a total value of $89,082.53. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 49,993 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,144,199.77. The trade was a 3.99 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 3.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 19,154 shares of company stock worth $825,678 over the last three months. 0.05% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Newmont

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Newmont during the 4th quarter worth $626,074,000. Voloridge Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Newmont during the fourth quarter valued at $92,693,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Newmont by 70.7% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 5,644,953 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $210,105,000 after acquiring an additional 2,338,953 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Newmont in the fourth quarter worth about $76,281,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Newmont by 23.9% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 10,520,354 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $391,568,000 after purchasing an additional 2,028,150 shares during the period. 68.85% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Newmont Price Performance

NEM stock traded down $0.21 during trading on Monday, hitting $54.76. 14,219,732 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,825,243. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.97. Newmont has a 52 week low of $36.60 and a 52 week high of $58.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a current ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $61.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.69, a P/E/G ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 0.54.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The basic materials company reported $1.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $5.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.32 billion. Newmont had a net margin of 17.92% and a return on equity of 13.52%. As a group, research analysts expect that Newmont will post 3.45 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Announces Dividend

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 1.83%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 4th. Newmont's dividend payout ratio is currently 34.13%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

NEM has been the topic of a number of research reports. National Bank Financial raised shares of Newmont to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Newmont from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Newmont from $51.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Newmont from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded Newmont from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $50.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $54.55.

Newmont Company Profile

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.