First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $25.00.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised shares of First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th.

First Majestic Silver Stock Up 8.0%

Shares of NYSE:AG opened at $23.60 on Tuesday. First Majestic Silver has a 12 month low of $5.49 and a 12 month high of $32.03. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.36. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The firm has a market cap of $11.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 67.44 and a beta of 0.85.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver will post 0.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a $0.0083 dividend. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is 8.57%.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 408.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,041,912 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $250,821,000 after acquiring an additional 12,081,688 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,225,807 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $531,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,543 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,932,368 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $232,539,000 after acquiring an additional 5,265,612 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,071,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,203,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,751,376 shares during the period. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About First Majestic Silver

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.