Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Stake in First Majestic Silver Corp. $AG

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) by 7.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,140,689 shares of the mining company’s stock after selling 3,085,118 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp owned 0.08% of First Majestic Silver worth $668,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased 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. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the 4th quarter valued at $45,898,000. Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter worth about $32,795,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 14.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,014,859 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $258,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581,023 shares during the period. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,621,720 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $160,298,000 after purchasing an additional 2,418,513 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on AG. HC Wainwright increased their price target on First Majestic Silver to $30.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. Zacks Research downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. Weiss Ratings downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.25.

First Majestic Silver Trading Up 4.2%

Shares of First Majestic Silver stock opened at $17.63 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.71 billion, a PE ratio of 29.39 and a beta of 0.86. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a twelve month low of $7.74 and a twelve month high of $32.03. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $20.32 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The mining company reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $476.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $522.00 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 11.19%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 95.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 20th were paid a $0.0171 dividend. This is a positive change from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is 11.67%.

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.