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

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in 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 short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GFI. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Gold Fields by 15.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 46,158,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,287,000 after purchasing an additional 6,053,995 shares during the period. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its holdings in shares of Gold Fields by 19.3% in the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 12,810,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,243,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070,427 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Gold Fields by 3,507.0% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,272,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,823,000 after acquiring an additional 1,237,580 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Gold Fields by 145.8% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,129,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,329,000 after purchasing an additional 669,819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Gold Fields in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $7,889,000. 26.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gold Fields Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GFI opened at $17.89 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22. Gold Fields has a 12-month low of $10.31 and a 12-month high of $18.97.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) last posted its quarterly 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Gold Fields will post 1.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 15th were paid a dividend of $0.1717 per share. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. This is a boost from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th.

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.