First Majestic Silver Corp. $AG Shares Bought by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) by 32.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 43,225,807 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 10,471,543 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp owned about 8.82% of First Majestic Silver worth $531,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in AG. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 890,408 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $10,937,000 after acquiring an additional 120,986 shares in the last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its position in First Majestic Silver by 1,024.6% during the third quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 9,368 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 8,535 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 852,780 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $10,477,000 after buying an additional 13,500 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 9,557.0% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 1,896,255 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $23,533,000 after acquiring an additional 1,876,619 shares during the period. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 2.5% during the third quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 86,290 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,108 shares during the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG opened at $26.13 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.88 billion, a PE ratio of 74.66 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $23.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $16.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a 12-month low of $5.18 and a 12-month high of $32.03.

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. Equities research analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.0083 per share. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. This represents a $0.03 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is currently 8.57%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on AG shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Friday, January 16th. Zacks Research raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their price objective on First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.00.

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.