IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) Sees Large Increase in Short Interest

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

IAMGOLD Price Performance

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

IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG) (TSE:IMG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The mining company reported $0.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.08 by $0.08. IAMGOLD had a net margin of 10.36% and a return on equity of 6.70%. The company had revenue of $385.30 million for the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.01) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that IAMGOLD will post 0.45 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of IAMGOLD

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.