First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Trading Up 7.1% – Should You Buy?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR)’s stock price shot up 7.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $20.71 and last traded at $20.6910. 5,583,446 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 25,671,088 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.32.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

AG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $25.00.

First Majestic Silver Trading Up 5.4%

The stock has a market cap of $10.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.15 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $24.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.03. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $561.30 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a $0.0083 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 27th. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is presently 8.57%.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AG. Sprott Inc. raised its stake in First Majestic Silver by 51.8% during the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 2,036,679 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $24,974,000 after acquiring an additional 695,391 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the third quarter worth $55,071,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 4.3% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,050,155 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $221,657,000 after purchasing an additional 739,315 shares during the period. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. increased its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 120.8% during the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 51,200 shares during the period. Finally, FORA Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,216.2% during the second quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 340,695 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,818,000 after purchasing an additional 314,811 shares in the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.