Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on New Gold (NYSE:NGD)

New Gold Inc. (NYSE:NGD) was the target of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 36,311 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 743% compared to the typical daily volume of 4,306 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Gold

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NGD. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of New Gold in the second quarter valued at about $458,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC acquired a new position in shares of New Gold during the second quarter worth approximately $365,000. K.J. Harrison & Partners Inc bought a new stake in shares of New Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $602,000. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of New Gold by 67.1% in the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 122,622 shares of the company’s stock valued at $242,000 after acquiring an additional 49,246 shares during the period. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its position in New Gold by 52.2% during the second quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,129,400 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,202,000 after acquiring an additional 730,700 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 42.82% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

NGD has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of New Gold from $2.75 to $3.25 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 17th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of New Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on New Gold from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $3.41.

New Gold Stock Down 1.6 %

NGD stock opened at $2.48 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $2.79 and a two-hundred day moving average of $2.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45. New Gold has a 12-month low of $1.09 and a 12-month high of $3.25. The company has a market cap of $1.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 124.00 and a beta of 1.32.

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

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.