Traders Buy Large Volume of Equinox Gold Call Options (NYSEAMERICAN:EQX)

Equinox Gold Corp. (NYSEAMERICAN:EQX) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 20,709 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 329% compared to the typical volume of 4,831 call options.

Institutional Trading of Equinox Gold

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of Equinox Gold by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 5,307,103 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,585,000 after purchasing an additional 1,067,139 shares during the last quarter. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Equinox Gold in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,763,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in Equinox Gold by 2.8% in the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 87,435,651 shares of the company’s stock valued at $849,875,000 after buying an additional 2,355,044 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Equinox Gold during the second quarter worth $6,158,000. Finally, Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Equinox Gold by 20.2% during the first quarter. Euro Pacific Asset Management LLC now owns 2,292,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,596,000 after buying an additional 385,638 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 38.85% of the company’s stock.

Equinox Gold Trading Up 2.5%

Equinox Gold stock traded up $0.28 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $11.22. 5,206,989 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 11,784,525. Equinox Gold has a fifty-two week low of $8.48 and a fifty-two week high of $18.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.17 and a beta of 1.32. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $11.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.99.

Equinox Gold (NYSEAMERICAN:EQX) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The company reported $0.16 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.17 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $769.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $775.79 million. Equinox Gold had a return on equity of 10.91% and a net margin of 26.30%.Equinox Gold’s revenue for the quarter was up 60.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Equinox Gold will post 1.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Equinox Gold Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.0225 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 19th. This is a boost from Equinox Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0150. This represents a $0.09 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. Equinox Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 16.67%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on EQX shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Equinox Gold in a research report on Friday, August 7th. Zacks Research lowered Equinox Gold from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Equinox Gold from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 16th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Equinox Gold in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Equinox Gold in a report on Thursday, September 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Equinox Gold presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $14.00.

About Equinox Gold

Equinox Gold Corp. is a mining company focused on the exploration, development and operation of gold properties in the Americas. The company produces gold doré and related gold products from its operating mines and advances a portfolio of development and exploration projects intended to support long-term production.

Equinox Gold’s portfolio has included the Mesquite and Castle Mountain properties in California, the Greenstone Mine in Ontario, and the Aurizona, Fazenda and Santa Luz mines in Brazil, as well as the Los Filos complex in Mexico.