Investors Purchase High Volume of Agnico Eagle Mines Call Options (NYSE:AEM)

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Traders bought 11,563 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 69% compared to the typical volume of 6,842 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Agnico Eagle Mines in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Jessup Wealth Management Inc bought a new stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Allied Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the second quarter worth $36,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 64.7% during the fourth quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. now owns 229 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.34% of the company’s stock.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Up 7.0%

Shares of Agnico Eagle Mines stock traded up $11.79 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $179.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,198,628 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,703,955. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.02 and a current ratio of 2.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day moving average of $155.81 and a 200 day moving average of $187.98. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 52-week low of $130.04 and a 52-week high of $255.24.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The mining company reported $3.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.16. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 22.04% and a net margin of 40.44%.The firm had revenue of $3.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.78 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. Agnico Eagle Mines’s quarterly revenue was up 35.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 11.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, July 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Agnico Eagle Mines from $278.00 to $260.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, July 12th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $285.00 price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $210.00 to $170.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Agnico Eagle Mines presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $226.00.

Agnico Eagle Mines Company Profile

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) is a Canadian-based senior gold producer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production and reclamation of gold-bearing properties. Agnico Eagle pursues both greenfield and brownfield exploration to expand its resource base and operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects to generate long-life gold production.

Its core business activities span the full mining lifecycle: grassroots and advanced-stage exploration, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mine construction, underground and open-pit mining, ore processing and metal recovery, and post-mining reclamation and closure.