Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Gold Fields Put Options (NYSE:GFI)

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 4,799 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 59% compared to the average daily volume of 3,020 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Gold Fields from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of Gold Fields from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Gold Fields from $17.10 to $18.80 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 15th. Three equities research 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $17.95.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Gold Fields

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Gold Fields by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 21,205 shares of the company’s stock worth $326,000 after acquiring an additional 2,118 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Gold Fields by 2.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,194,633 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,338,000 after purchasing an additional 25,972 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Gold Fields by 70.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 37,129 shares of the company’s stock worth $579,000 after purchasing an additional 15,289 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in Gold Fields by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 77,825 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,027,000 after purchasing an additional 9,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Range Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Gold Fields during the fourth quarter valued at $770,000. 24.81% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Gold Fields Trading Down 3.3 %

GFI traded down $0.82 during trading on Monday, hitting $23.74. 5,709,036 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,648,148. The company has a market cap of $21.25 billion, a PE ratio of 10.10, a P/E/G ratio of 0.30 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.01. Gold Fields has a 1 year low of $12.98 and a 1 year high of $25.01.

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 given a dividend of $0.3752 per share. This is a positive change from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 14th. This represents a dividend yield of 1.6%. Gold Fields’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 25.96%.

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.