Scotiabank Boosts Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) Price Target to $18.00

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) had its price objective hoisted by Scotiabank from $15.00 to $18.00 in a research note released on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector perform rating on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on GFI. StockNews.com raised shares of Gold Fields from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. UBS Group lowered shares of Gold Fields from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of Gold Fields from a market perform rating to an underperform rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $14.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gold Fields presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $14.67.

Gold Fields Price Performance

Gold Fields stock opened at $16.05 on Thursday. Gold Fields has a 1-year low of $10.31 and a 1-year high of $18.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $16.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.10. Research analysts expect that Gold Fields will post 1.4 EPS for the current year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a semi-annual dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Friday, March 15th were given a dividend of $0.1717 per share. This is a positive change from Gold Fields’s previous semi-annual dividend of $0.17. This represents a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 14th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GFI. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Gold Fields by 15.1% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 46,158,985 shares of the company’s stock worth $501,287,000 after buying an additional 6,053,995 shares during the last quarter. First Eagle Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Gold Fields during the first quarter worth about $85,326,000. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC increased its holdings in Gold Fields by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. RWC Asset Advisors US LLC now owns 12,810,699 shares of the company’s stock worth $185,243,000 after buying an additional 2,070,427 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Gold Fields by 3,507.0% during the third quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,272,869 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,823,000 after buying an additional 1,237,580 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in Gold Fields by 145.8% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,129,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,329,000 after buying an additional 669,819 shares during the last quarter. 26.02% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Gold Fields

Gold Fields Limited operates as a gold producer with reserves and resources in Chile, South Africa, Ghana, Canada, Australia, and Peru. It also explores for copper and silver deposits. The company was founded in 1887 and is based in Sandton, South Africa.