Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s Why

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM)’s share price dropped 1.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $216.68 and last traded at $222.75. Approximately 1,753,016 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 37% from the average daily volume of 2,800,905 shares. The stock had previously closed at $226.94.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on AEM. Zacks Research raised Agnico Eagle Mines from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 27th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $240.00 target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $241.00 to $251.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $225.00 price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.91.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average of $211.75 and a 200 day moving average of $180.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a current ratio of 2.02. The firm has a market cap of $103.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.23 and a beta of 0.61.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 18.09% and a net margin of 37.47%.The firm had revenue of $3.53 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 60.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Agnico Eagle Mines Limited will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.9%. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Agnico Eagle Mines’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Institutional Trading of Agnico Eagle Mines

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AEM. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $252,000 after acquiring an additional 331 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 36.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,829 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after purchasing an additional 5,293 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 57.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,188 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 1,160 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 27.4% in the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 5,855 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 1,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prospera Financial Services Inc boosted its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 5.3% in the second quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 3,391 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $403,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 68.34% of the company’s stock.

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.