Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on McEwen (NYSE:MUX)

McEwen Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSE:MUX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock traders acquired 3,633 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 350% compared to the average volume of 807 call options.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard W. Brissenden sold 3,275 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.13, for a total transaction of $59,375.75. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,022 shares in the company, valued at $326,738.86. The trade was a 15.38% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 14.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McEwen

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Amundi acquired a new stake in shares of McEwen during the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,240,000. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of McEwen by 4,309.4% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 638,871 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,823,000 after buying an additional 624,382 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of McEwen by 38.2% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 1,959,913 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $33,515,000 after purchasing an additional 541,890 shares during the period. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in McEwen by 1,347.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 534,824 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $10,921,000 after buying an additional 497,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of McEwen by 228.6% in the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 701,344 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $12,982,000 after purchasing an additional 487,924 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 17.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MUX. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of McEwen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Roth Capital set a $31.00 target price on shares of McEwen and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down from $29.50) on shares of McEwen in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of McEwen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Zacks Research cut McEwen from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $28.00.

McEwen Stock Performance

McEwen stock traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $20.44. The company had a trading volume of 215,335 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,174,360. McEwen has a 52 week low of $10.65 and a 52 week high of $29.70. The firm has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day moving average of $18.26 and a 200-day moving average of $21.41. The company has a quick ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 2.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17.

McEwen (NYSE:MUX) (TSE:MUX) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.28 by ($0.14). McEwen had a net margin of 32.46% and a return on equity of 13.48%. The firm had revenue of $59.23 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $65.51 million. On average, sell-side analysts expect that McEwen will post 0.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

McEwen Company Profile

McEwen Mining Inc (NYSE: MUX) is a Canada-based precious metals company focused on the exploration, development and production of gold, silver and copper. Headquartered in Toronto, the company pursues a diversified portfolio of assets across the Americas, with operations and projects spanning Argentina, Mexico, Canada and the United States. McEwen Mining employs an integrated approach that combines in-house technical expertise with strategic partnerships to advance its assets from resource definition through to commercial production.

The company’s flagship producing asset is the San José mine in Argentina, a high-grade silver-gold operation.