Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI) Short Interest Down 9.5% in April

Gold Fields Limited (NYSE:GFI - Get Free Report) saw a large decrease in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 14,410,000 shares, a decrease of 9.5% from the April 15th total of 15,930,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 4,060,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GFI has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets downgraded Gold Fields from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $14.00 to $12.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Gold Fields from $15.50 to $15.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Gold Fields from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Gold Fields from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Gold Fields presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $13.67.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Gold Fields

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its stake in Gold Fields by 2.7% in the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 92,309 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 2,459 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC raised its position in Gold Fields by 26.2% during the third quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 16,273 shares of the company's stock valued at $177,000 after acquiring an additional 3,377 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Gold Fields by 33.3% during the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 28,158 shares of the company's stock valued at $306,000 after acquiring an additional 7,032 shares in the last quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Gold Fields by 7.8% in the third quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,429 shares of the company's stock valued at $287,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Gold Fields by 2.9% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,066,014 shares of the company's stock worth $22,437,000 after acquiring an additional 57,556 shares in the last quarter. 26.02% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Gold Fields Stock Performance

NYSE GFI traded up $0.11 on Wednesday, hitting $16.92. 1,805,050 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,263,661. Gold Fields has a twelve month low of $10.31 and a twelve month high of $18.97. The company's 50 day moving average price is $16.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $14.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.70.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.15 by $0.10. Analysts anticipate that Gold Fields will post 1.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Gold Fields Increases Dividend

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

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.

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