Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest during the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totaling 5,252,822 shares, an increase of 34.0% from the March 31st total of 3,918,689 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,299,868 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 1.0 days. Approximately 1.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Harmony Gold Mining

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in HMY. FIL Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Harmony Gold Mining during the fourth quarter worth $111,182,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 215.7% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,571,374 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $82,289,000 after acquiring an additional 3,806,468 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 286.6% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 3,961,141 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $54,248,000 after acquiring an additional 2,936,552 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 7,504.0% during the third quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 2,306,431 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $41,862,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,099 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 1,801.7% during the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 1,985,093 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $27,732,000 after acquiring an additional 1,880,708 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 31.79% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Harmony Gold Mining in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded Harmony Gold Mining from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upgraded Harmony Gold Mining to an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Harmony Gold Mining from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have issued a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $16.00.

Harmony Gold Mining Stock Up 4.8%

Shares of HMY stock traded up $0.73 on Thursday, reaching $15.79. 3,750,280 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,947,713. Harmony Gold Mining has a one year low of $12.58 and a one 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $17.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.90.

Harmony Gold Mining Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 5th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 24th will be given a dividend of $0.3124 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 24th. This represents a dividend yield of 372.0%.

Harmony Gold Mining Company Profile

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.