IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) Short Interest Up 35.9% in September

IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 6,170,000 shares, a growth of 35.9% from the August 31st total of 4,540,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 8,810,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.7 days. Currently, 1.1% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IAMGOLD

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IAG. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in shares of IAMGOLD by 8.2% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 52,053,035 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $173,340,000 after purchasing an additional 3,935,250 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. grew its stake in IAMGOLD by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 36,077,268 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $120,137,000 after buying an additional 298,959 shares during the last quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd increased its position in IAMGOLD by 250.5% during the first quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd now owns 32,861,554 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $109,429,000 after buying an additional 23,485,183 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in IAMGOLD by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,678,843 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $58,871,000 after buying an additional 168,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polunin Capital Partners Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of IAMGOLD by 12.1% in the first quarter. Polunin Capital Partners Ltd now owns 8,995,059 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $29,954,000 after acquiring an additional 968,104 shares during the period. 47.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $5.00 price objective on shares of IAMGOLD in a research note on Thursday, June 6th. StockNews.com raised IAMGOLD from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 17th. CIBC lifted their target price on IAMGOLD from $4.90 to $5.40 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on IAMGOLD from $4.75 to $5.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, August 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $4.73.

IAMGOLD Stock Down 4.3 %

Shares of IAMGOLD stock traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, hitting $5.28. 7,886,105 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,066,064. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $4.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $4.10. The stock has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86 and a beta of 1.58. IAMGOLD has a 12-month low of $1.99 and a 12-month high of $5.60.

IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 8th. The mining company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.08. IAMGOLD had a return on equity of 6.70% and a net margin of 10.36%. The business had revenue of $385.30 million during the quarter. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that IAMGOLD will post 0.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.