Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

Key Points

• Short interest fell 22.4% in March to 3,918,689 shares (about 0.7% of shares), leaving a short-interest ratio of just 0.6 days based on average daily volume.
• Harmony declared a $0.3124 dividend payable on May 5 to shareholders of record on April 24 (ex-dividend April 24), which the article reports as a 430.0% yield.
• Institutional buying accelerated, with Goldman Sachs increasing its stake by 215.7% to 5,571,374 shares (≈$82.3M), and institutions/hedge funds now owning about 31.79% of the stock.

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY - Get Free Report) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totaling 3,918,689 shares, a drop of 22.4% from the March 15th total of 5,050,969 shares. Approximately 0.7% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,408,509 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.6 days.

Harmony Gold Mining Price Performance

NYSE HMY opened at $17.09 on Wednesday. Harmony Gold Mining has a 1 year low of $12.58 and a 1 year high of $26.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $18.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.04.

Harmony Gold Mining Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be paid a $0.3124 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 24th. This represents a yield of 430.0%.

Institutional Trading of Harmony Gold Mining

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of HMY. Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its stake in Harmony Gold Mining by 210.4% in the 1st quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 18,165 shares of the mining company's stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 12,312 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in Harmony Gold Mining by 215.7% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,571,374 shares of the mining company's stock worth $82,289,000 after purchasing an additional 3,806,468 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund purchased a new stake in Harmony Gold Mining in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $171,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership purchased a new stake in Harmony Gold Mining in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $424,000. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 13.9% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,516 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $147,000 after buying an additional 1,280 shares in the last quarter. 31.79% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on HMY. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Harmony Gold Mining from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, March 14th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Harmony Gold Mining from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Harmony Gold Mining in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $16.00.

About Harmony Gold Mining

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited is a South Africa–based precious metals producer primarily engaged in the exploration, mining and processing of gold. The company operates a portfolio of underground and surface mining operations, targeting both reef-hosted and alluvial deposits. In addition to gold, Harmony’s activities encompass the extraction of copper as a byproduct at its Papua New Guinea operations.

In South Africa, Harmony’s mining footprint includes deep-level underground operations in the Witwatersrand Basin, where it employs a combination of conventional and mechanized mining methods.

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