Short Interest in Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND) Drops By 43.4%

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. (NYSE:SAND) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, a decline of 43.4% from the January 15th total of 2,970,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,300,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.4 days. Currently, 0.6% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Sandstorm Gold

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 39,289.9% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,812,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,751,000 after acquiring an additional 9,787,105 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Sandstorm Gold by 35.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,522,246 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,394,000 after buying an additional 1,691,296 shares during the last quarter. Sprott Inc. lifted its stake in Sandstorm Gold by 77.9% during the fourth quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 4,465,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $24,925,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955,916 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its holdings in Sandstorm Gold by 74.9% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,890,535 shares of the company’s stock worth $16,447,000 after acquiring an additional 1,238,050 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in Sandstorm Gold by 68.0% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,359,258 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,179,000 after buying an additional 954,564 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 51.97% of the company’s stock.

Sandstorm Gold Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of Sandstorm Gold stock traded down $0.03 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $6.56. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,126,971 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,342,739. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $5.75 and a 200-day moving average of $5.78. Sandstorm Gold has a twelve month low of $3.96 and a twelve month high of $6.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 2.29 and a current ratio of 2.29. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.63 and a beta of 1.10.

Sandstorm Gold Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 31st. Investors of record on Tuesday, January 21st were issued a $0.02 dividend. This represents a $0.08 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.22%. This is an increase from Sandstorm Gold’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.02. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 21st. Sandstorm Gold’s dividend payout ratio is 50.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SAND has been the subject of several analyst reports. HC Wainwright raised their price target on Sandstorm Gold from $11.50 to $12.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. StockNews.com downgraded Sandstorm Gold from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $8.50.

Sandstorm Gold Company Profile

Sandstorm Gold Ltd. operates as a gold royalty company. The company focuses on acquiring royalties and gold and other metals purchase agreements from companies that have advanced stage operating mines. It offers upfront payments for companies to acquire a stream and receives the right to purchase a percentage of a mine's production for the life of the mine.