Short Interest in IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) Grows By 35.1%

IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 8,700,000 shares, a growth of 35.1% from the February 13th total of 6,440,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 10,590,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.8 days. Approximately 1.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

IAMGOLD Price Performance

Shares of IAG traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $6.07. 10,302,598 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,427,703. The stock has a market cap of $3.47 billion, a PE ratio of 4.18 and a beta of 1.63. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $5.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $5.51. IAMGOLD has a 12 month low of $2.90 and a 12 month high of $6.69.

IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The mining company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $469.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $498.68 million. IAMGOLD had a return on equity of 10.64% and a net margin of 50.19%. Equities analysts expect that IAMGOLD will post 0.67 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Raymond James raised IAMGOLD from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Cibc World Mkts raised IAMGOLD from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. CIBC raised IAMGOLD from a “neutral” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com lowered IAMGOLD from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $6.57.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IAMGOLD

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. increased its stake in IAMGOLD by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 31,233,874 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $161,167,000 after purchasing an additional 216,751 shares during the period. RCF Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in IAMGOLD in the fourth quarter worth $128,174,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in IAMGOLD by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 21,232,871 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $109,741,000 after purchasing an additional 321,458 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in IAMGOLD by 88.4% in the fourth quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 10,330,194 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $53,307,000 after purchasing an additional 4,846,254 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in IAMGOLD by 25.9% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 10,162,314 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $52,499,000 after purchasing an additional 2,092,803 shares during the period. 47.08% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.