New Gold Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:NGD)

New Gold Inc. (NYSE:NGD) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 36,311 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 743% compared to the average daily volume of 4,306 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Gold

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of NGD. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in New Gold by 5.0% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 73,884,631 shares of the company’s stock worth $215,743,000 after acquiring an additional 3,541,882 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in New Gold by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 20,111,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $39,217,000 after purchasing an additional 2,399,200 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in New Gold by 57.3% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 16,328,086 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,229,000 after buying an additional 5,948,394 shares during the period. Herr Investment Group LLC increased its position in New Gold by 40.4% in the second quarter. Herr Investment Group LLC now owns 5,210,363 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,160,000 after buying an additional 1,499,745 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in New Gold by 18.7% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 4,322,930 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,450,000 after buying an additional 681,822 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 42.82% of the company’s stock.

New Gold Stock Down 1.2 %

New Gold stock traded down $0.03 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $2.49. 6,059,932 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 8,238,964. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 1.42 and a quick ratio of 0.84. New Gold has a fifty-two week low of $1.09 and a fifty-two week high of $3.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $2.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.53. The company has a market cap of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 124.50 and a beta of 1.32.

New Gold (NYSE:NGD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $0.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by $0.04. New Gold had a net margin of 2.33% and a return on equity of 9.38%. The business had revenue of $252.00 million during the quarter. On average, research analysts predict that New Gold will post 0.18 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on NGD shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of New Gold from $2.75 to $3.25 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on New Gold from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com raised New Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, New Gold currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $3.41.

About New Gold

New Gold Inc, an intermediate gold mining company, develops and operates of mineral properties in Canada. It primarily explores for gold, silver, and copper deposits. The company’s principal operating properties include 100% interest in the Rainy River mine located in Northwestern Ontario, Canada; and New Afton project situated in South-Central British Columbia.