Investors Purchase Large Volume of Newmont Put Options (NYSE:NEM)

Newmont Co. (NYSE:NEM) saw some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 68,812 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 72% compared to the typical daily volume of 39,937 put options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

NEM has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James dropped their target price on shares of Newmont from $62.00 to $59.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Scotiabank lowered Newmont from a “sector outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $59.00 to $55.00 in a report on Friday, October 25th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on Newmont from $54.00 to $53.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. CIBC downgraded shares of Newmont from a “sector outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, October 28th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Newmont from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $67.00 to $54.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.31.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Thomas Ronald Palmer sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.81, for a total value of $1,076,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 271,469 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,607,746.89. This represents a 6.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Peter Toth sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $52.47, for a total transaction of $157,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 94,596 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,963,452.12. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 46,000 shares of company stock worth $2,444,440 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Newmont

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Newmont in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Newmont during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Newmont in the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,000. Hoese & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Newmont in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Newmont by 191.8% during the third quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 496 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 326 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.85% of the company’s stock.

Newmont Stock Performance

Shares of Newmont stock opened at $42.04 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $49.35 and a 200-day moving average of $47.43. The company has a market cap of $47.86 billion, a PE ratio of -27.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.30. Newmont has a 1-year low of $29.42 and a 1-year high of $58.72.

Newmont (NYSE:NEM) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The basic materials company reported $0.81 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.86 by ($0.05). Newmont had a positive return on equity of 9.80% and a negative net margin of 7.03%. The business had revenue of $4.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 84.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Newmont will post 3.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Newmont Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 23rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 27th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 27th. Newmont’s payout ratio is -65.79%.

About Newmont

Newmont Corporation engages in the production and exploration of gold. It also explores for copper, silver, zinc, and lead. The company has operations and/or assets in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Peru, Suriname, Argentina, Chile, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Ecuador, Fiji, and Ghana.