Sandstorm Gold Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:SAND)

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Investors purchased 2,772 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 36% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,043 call options.

Institutional Trading of Sandstorm Gold

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SAND. Boston Partners raised its stake in Sandstorm Gold by 39,289.9% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,812,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,751,000 after buying an additional 9,787,105 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in Sandstorm Gold by 580.6% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 2,314,684 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,916,000 after purchasing an additional 1,974,600 shares during the last quarter. Sprott Inc. grew its position in Sandstorm Gold by 77.9% during the 4th quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 4,465,843 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,916 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Sandstorm Gold by 35.0% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,246 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,394,000 after purchasing an additional 1,691,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,890,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,447,000 after buying an additional 1,238,050 shares during the last quarter. 51.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SAND has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Sandstorm Gold from $6.50 to $7.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. StockNews.com upgraded Sandstorm Gold from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. HC Wainwright dropped their price target on Sandstorm Gold from $12.00 to $11.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Raymond James reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Sandstorm Gold in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Sandstorm Gold from $7.25 to $8.25 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $9.06.

Sandstorm Gold Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE SAND opened at $8.35 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $6.97 and its 200 day moving average is $6.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.29, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.45 billion, a PE ratio of 166.93 and a beta of 0.90. Sandstorm Gold has a twelve month low of $4.92 and a twelve month high of $8.82.

Sandstorm Gold (NYSE:SAND) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 18th. The company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.04 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $47.40 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $67.49 million. Sandstorm Gold had a return on equity of 0.98% and a net margin of 8.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.04) earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Sandstorm Gold will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandstorm Gold Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.014 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 14th. Sandstorm Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

Sandstorm Gold Company Profile

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. operates as a gold royalty company. The company focuses on acquiring royalties and gold and other metals purchase agreements from companies that have advanced stage operating mines. It offers upfront payments for companies to acquire a stream and receives the right to purchase a percentage of a mine's production for the life of the mine.