IAMGOLD Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:IAG)

IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 5,008 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 143% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,057 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of IAG. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of IAMGOLD by 8.8% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 52,894,690 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $276,639,000 after purchasing an additional 4,267,084 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. boosted its stake in IAMGOLD by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 31,233,874 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $161,167,000 after purchasing an additional 216,751 shares during the period. RCF Management L.L.C. bought a new position in IAMGOLD in the 4th quarter worth approximately $128,174,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of IAMGOLD by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,232,871 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $109,741,000 after buying an additional 321,458 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its position in shares of IAMGOLD by 88.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 10,330,194 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $53,307,000 after acquiring an additional 4,846,254 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 47.08% of the company’s stock.

IAMGOLD Stock Down 4.0 %

Shares of IAG traded down $0.24 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $5.60. 3,750,704 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,030,677. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $5.79 and its 200-day moving average is $5.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.89. IAMGOLD has a 52 week low of $2.53 and a 52 week high of $6.69. The company has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 3.86 and a beta of 1.56.

IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The mining company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.15 by ($0.05). IAMGOLD had a net margin of 50.19% and a return on equity of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $469.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $498.68 million. On average, equities research analysts forecast that IAMGOLD will post 0.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com raised shares of IAMGOLD from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Cibc World Mkts raised shares of IAMGOLD from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Raymond James raised IAMGOLD from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, CIBC upgraded IAMGOLD from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $6.57.

About IAMGOLD

IAMGOLD Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an intermediate gold producer and developer in Canada and Burkina Faso. It owns 100% interest in the Westwood project that covers an area of 1,925 hectare and located in Quebec; a 60% interest in the Côté gold project, which covers an area of 596 square kilometer located in Ontario, Canada; and a 90% interests in the Essakane project that covers an area of 274,000 square kilometer situated in Burkina Faso.