McEwen Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:MUX)

McEwen Inc. (NYSE:MUX) (TSE:MUX) was the target of some unusual options trading on Thursday. Investors purchased 3,633 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 350% compared to the typical daily volume of 807 call options.

Insider Activity

In other McEwen news, Director Richard W. Brissenden sold 3,275 shares of McEwen stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.13, for a total transaction of $59,375.75. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $326,738.86. The trade was a 15.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 14.80% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On McEwen

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in McEwen by 5.8% during the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 10,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of McEwen by 10.0% during the first quarter. Kercheville Advisors LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV purchased a new position in McEwen in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in McEwen by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 522,435 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $9,673,000 after purchasing an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in shares of McEwen during the first quarter worth approximately $31,000. 17.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MUX shares. Roth Capital set a $31.00 price objective on McEwen and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Zacks Research cut shares of McEwen from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of McEwen from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of McEwen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and set a $28.00 price target (down from $29.50) on shares of McEwen in a report on Friday, August 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $28.00.

McEwen Price Performance

MUX traded up $0.22 during trading on Thursday, reaching $20.44. 215,335 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,174,360. The company has a market capitalization of $1.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26 and a beta of 1.23. McEwen has a 1 year low of $10.65 and a 1 year high of $29.70. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $18.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.17, a current ratio of 2.04 and a quick ratio of 1.61.

McEwen (NYSE:MUX) (TSE:MUX) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.28 by ($0.14). McEwen had a net margin of 32.46% and a return on equity of 13.48%. The business had revenue of $59.23 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $65.51 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that McEwen will post 0.8 earnings per share for the current year.

McEwen Company Profile

McEwen Mining Inc (NYSE: MUX) is a Canada-based precious metals company focused on the exploration, development and production of gold, silver and copper. Headquartered in Toronto, the company pursues a diversified portfolio of assets across the Americas, with operations and projects spanning Argentina, Mexico, Canada and the United States. McEwen Mining employs an integrated approach that combines in-house technical expertise with strategic partnerships to advance its assets from resource definition through to commercial production.

The company’s flagship producing asset is the San José mine in Argentina, a high-grade silver-gold operation.