Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 15,930,000 shares, a growth of 29.3% from the March 31st total of 12,320,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,530,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gold Fields

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in Gold Fields in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its stake in Gold Fields by 133.1% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 4,673 shares of the company’s stock worth $68,000 after acquiring an additional 2,668 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Gold Fields by 51.7% in the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Gold Fields during the 3rd quarter worth about $100,000. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Gold Fields during the 3rd quarter worth about $116,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 26.02% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank decreased their target price on Gold Fields from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut shares of Gold Fields from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their target price for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group cut shares of Gold Fields from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Gold Fields from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $13.67.

Gold Fields Price Performance

Shares of GFI opened at $17.53 on Friday. Gold Fields has a twelve month low of $10.31 and a twelve month high of $18.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a quick ratio of 0.70 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $15.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $14.51.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.25 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.10. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Gold Fields will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.1717 per share. This is an increase from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 14th.

Gold Fields Company Profile

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.