Investors Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO)

Eldorado Gold Corporation (NYSE:EGO) (TSE:ELD) saw unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock traders bought 2,739 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,851 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on EGO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Eldorado Gold in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group cut shares of Eldorado Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Eldorado Gold from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Eldorado Gold from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and set a $48.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, National Bank Financial reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Eldorado Gold in a research note on Tuesday, November 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $38.20.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eldorado Gold

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in EGO. Ruffer LLP grew its stake in shares of Eldorado Gold by 29.2% in the third quarter. Ruffer LLP now owns 1,412,740 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,814,000 after purchasing an additional 319,187 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in Eldorado Gold by 8.4% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,146,359 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $23,332,000 after purchasing an additional 88,752 shares during the period. TT International Asset Management LTD acquired a new stake in Eldorado Gold in the third quarter worth about $1,186,000. Penserra Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Eldorado Gold in the 3rd quarter valued at about $506,000. Finally, Cibc World Market Inc. increased its stake in Eldorado Gold by 13.4% during the 3rd quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 345,445 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,974,000 after buying an additional 40,729 shares during the period. 69.58% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eldorado Gold Stock Performance

EGO stock traded down $4.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $43.38. The company had a trading volume of 2,202,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,549,267. Eldorado Gold has a one year low of $13.29 and a one year high of $51.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $8.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.21 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 2.28, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.31. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $31.73.

Eldorado Gold (NYSE:EGO) (TSE:ELD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.63 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.64 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $575.14 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $500.42 million. Eldorado Gold had a return on equity of 8.89% and a net margin of 22.15%. Research analysts anticipate that Eldorado Gold will post 1.5 EPS for the current year.

Eldorado Gold Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.075 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%.

Eldorado Gold Company Profile

Eldorado Gold Corporation is a Canada‐based gold producer engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of mineral properties. The company’s core focus is on gold, silver and select base metals, with an emphasis on advancing projects through feasibility and into production. Eldorado Gold maintains a diversified portfolio of both producing mines and advanced‐stage development projects.

Operationally, Eldorado Gold manages multiple gold mining operations across Turkey, Canada and Greece.