Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Gold Fields Call Options (NYSE:GFI)

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders acquired 4,751 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 61% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,945 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in Gold Fields by 11.1% during the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 21,205 shares of the company’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Gold Fields by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,194,633 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,338,000 after purchasing an additional 25,972 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Gold Fields by 70.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 15,289 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Gold Fields by 13.5% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 77,825 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 9,261 shares during the period. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in Gold Fields during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $770,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 24.81% of the company’s stock.

Gold Fields Trading Up 4.7 %

Gold Fields stock opened at $24.49 on Friday. Gold Fields has a 12-month low of $12.98 and a 12-month high of $25.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.42, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.23 and a 200 day moving average of $17.00.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 14th were paid a $0.3752 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 14th. This is a boost from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. Gold Fields’s dividend payout ratio is 25.96%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on GFI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Gold Fields from $17.10 to $18.80 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 15th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Gold Fields from $18.00 to $20.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gold Fields from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $17.20.

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.