IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

IAMGOLD Co. (NYSE:IAG - Get Free Report) TSE: IMG saw a significant growth in short interest in April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totalling 9,270,000 shares, a growth of 54.5% from the April 15th total of 6,000,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 9,140,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 1.0 days. Currently, 1.9% of the company's stock are sold short.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IAMGOLD

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in IAG. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of IAMGOLD by 8.2% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 52,053,035 shares of the mining company's stock worth $173,340,000 after buying an additional 3,935,250 shares during the last quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. raised its position in IAMGOLD by 0.8% during the first quarter. Donald Smith & CO. Inc. now owns 36,077,268 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $120,137,000 after purchasing an additional 298,959 shares during the period. Helikon Investments Ltd raised its position in IAMGOLD by 250.5% during the first quarter. Helikon Investments Ltd now owns 32,861,554 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $109,429,000 after purchasing an additional 23,485,183 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of IAMGOLD by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,678,843 shares of the mining company's stock valued at $58,871,000 after purchasing an additional 168,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polunin Capital Partners Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of IAMGOLD by 12.1% in the 1st quarter. Polunin Capital Partners Ltd now owns 8,995,059 shares of the mining company's stock worth $29,954,000 after purchasing an additional 968,104 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.08% of the company's stock.

IAMGOLD Price Performance

IAG stock traded up $0.45 during trading on Friday, reaching $4.30. The company's stock had a trading volume of 24,496,252 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,487,682. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36. The company's fifty day moving average is $3.44 and its 200-day moving average is $2.81. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.77 and a beta of 1.68. IAMGOLD has a 1 year low of $1.99 and a 1 year high of $4.35.

IAMGOLD (NYSE:IAG - Get Free Report) TSE: IMG last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The mining company reported $0.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.09. IAMGOLD had a return on equity of 3.19% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business had revenue of $338.90 million during the quarter. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.05 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that IAMGOLD will post 0.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

IAG has been the topic of several recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded IAMGOLD from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of IAMGOLD from $3.25 to $3.75 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. National Bank Financial reaffirmed a "sector perform spec overwgt" rating on shares of IAMGOLD in a research report on Monday, April 8th. CIBC lifted their target price on IAMGOLD from $3.00 to $3.10 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on IAMGOLD from $4.00 to $4.25 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $3.55.

IAMGOLD Company Profile

IAMGOLD Corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates as an intermediate gold producer and developer in Canada and Burkina Faso. It owns 100% interest in the Westwood project that covers an area of 1,925 hectare and located in Quebec; a 60% interest in the Côté gold project, which covers an area of 596 square kilometer located in Ontario, Canada; and a 90% interests in the Essakane project that covers an area of 274,000 square kilometer situated in Burkina Faso.