Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec Lowers Position in Sandstorm Gold Ltd $SAND

Key Points

• Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec reduced its stake in Sandstorm Gold Ltd by 25.3% during Q1, owning approximately $3.1 million worth of shares after selling 141,250 shares.
• Sandstorm Gold has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.02 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $0.08 and a yield of 0.7%, up from the previous dividend of $0.01.
• Analysts recently provided mixed ratings for Sandstorm Gold, with four giving a Buy rating, while two have rated it a Hold and one a Sell, leading to an average target price of $10.15.

Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec trimmed its holdings in shares of Sandstorm Gold Ltd (NYSE:SAND - Free Report) by 25.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 415,966 shares of the company's stock after selling 141,250 shares during the quarter. Federation des caisses Desjardins du Quebec owned 0.14% of Sandstorm Gold worth $3,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 15.9% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 11,374,157 shares of the company's stock valued at $85,875,000 after acquiring an additional 1,562,142 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 3.6% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,760,201 shares of the company's stock valued at $51,040,000 after purchasing an additional 237,955 shares during the period. Sprott Inc. grew its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 18.3% during the first quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 5,281,973 shares of the company's stock valued at $39,880,000 after purchasing an additional 816,130 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 580.6% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP bought a new position in Sandstorm Gold during the first quarter valued at $15,617,000. 51.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sandstorm Gold Stock Performance

Shares of Sandstorm Gold stock traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $11.64. The company had a trading volume of 2,523,913 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,845,505. Sandstorm Gold Ltd has a one year low of $5.33 and a one year high of $11.74. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $8.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 2.40 and a quick ratio of 2.40. The firm has a market cap of $3.41 billion, a PE ratio of 97.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Sandstorm Gold (NYSE:SAND - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.05. Sandstorm Gold had a return on equity of 2.38% and a net margin of 17.78%.The firm had revenue of $51.42 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $68.43 million. On average, analysts anticipate that Sandstorm Gold Ltd will post 0.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sandstorm Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 25th. Investors of record on Tuesday, July 15th were given a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Sandstorm Gold's previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, July 15th. Sandstorm Gold's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SAND shares. Stifel Canada lowered Sandstorm Gold from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Wall Street Zen raised Sandstorm Gold from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 21st. National Bankshares reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Sandstorm Gold in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, TD Securities lowered Sandstorm Gold from a "buy" rating to a "sell" rating and set a $14.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sandstorm Gold currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $10.15.

About Sandstorm Gold

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.