Harmony Gold Mining Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:HMY)

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (NYSE:HMY) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders purchased 3,094 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 64% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,882 call options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Harmony Gold Mining

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of HMY. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Harmony Gold Mining by 30.0% in the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 75,016,459 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $612,884,000 after purchasing an additional 17,298,604 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining during the first quarter worth approximately $59,033,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Harmony Gold Mining by 111.5% in the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,853,606 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $16,978,000 after buying an additional 977,142 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in Harmony Gold Mining by 63.7% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,567,543 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $14,374,000 after acquiring an additional 609,971 shares during the period. Finally, Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Harmony Gold Mining during the first quarter valued at $8,171,000. 31.79% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on HMY shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Harmony Gold Mining in a research report on Monday. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Harmony Gold Mining from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $4.90 to $8.20 in a research note on Thursday, October 10th.

Harmony Gold Mining Stock Performance

HMY stock traded down $0.69 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $11.54. 1,590,055 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,834,646. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.24 and a beta of 1.79. Harmony Gold Mining has a 52 week low of $4.42 and a 52 week high of $12.29. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $10.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $9.51. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Harmony Gold Mining Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a Semi-Annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, October 21st. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th were paid a dividend of $0.042 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 11th. This represents a yield of 1.2%. Harmony Gold Mining’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 5.76%.

About Harmony Gold Mining

Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited engages in the exploration, extraction, and processing of gold. The company explores for uranium, silver, copper, and molybdenum deposits. It has eight underground operations in the Witwatersrand Basin; an open-pit mine on the Kraaipan Greenstone Belt; and various surface source operations in South Africa.