New Gold Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:NGD)

New Gold Inc. (NYSE:NGD) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 4,367 call options on the company. This is an increase of 141% compared to the average volume of 1,814 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On New Gold

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised its position in New Gold by 812.7% in the 4th quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 91,267 shares of the company’s stock valued at $132,000 after purchasing an additional 81,267 shares during the last quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of New Gold by 222.4% during the fourth quarter. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. now owns 16,216,173 shares of the company’s stock worth $23,508,000 after buying an additional 11,186,898 shares during the last quarter. TD Asset Management Inc increased its position in New Gold by 33.5% in the 4th quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 4,694,483 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,836,000 after acquiring an additional 1,178,194 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc purchased a new stake in New Gold during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $893,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd grew its stake in shares of New Gold by 205.3% in the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 1,635,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,374,000 after purchasing an additional 1,099,933 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 42.82% of the company’s stock.

New Gold Stock Up 7.3 %

Shares of NGD opened at $3.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a P/E ratio of -31.00 and a beta of 1.29. New Gold has a 52-week low of $0.86 and a 52-week high of $3.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.50 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $2.38.

New Gold (NYSE:NGD) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.01 by $0.01. New Gold had a negative net margin of 2.53% and a positive return on equity of 5.22%. The business had revenue of $218.20 million during the quarter. On average, equities analysts anticipate that New Gold will post 0.14 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on New Gold from $3.00 to $3.50 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Cibc World Mkts upgraded New Gold to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of New Gold from $2.50 to $2.75 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. TD Securities raised shares of New Gold from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered New Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $2.66.

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.