First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Stock Gets Downgrade from Zacks Research

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Zacks reports.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Scotiabank cut their price objective on First Majestic Silver from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, September 2nd. HC Wainwright lowered their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver from $27.00 to $25.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 9th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $24.00.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE AG opened at $15.97 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a current ratio of 2.57. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $19.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $7.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50 and a beta of 0.97. First Majestic Silver has a 52 week low of $10.19 and a 52 week high of $32.03.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.25 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.00 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 21.18%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.11 EPS. Analysts predict that First Majestic Silver will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. M Holdings Securities Inc. raised its stake in First Majestic Silver by 3.1% in the second quarter. M Holdings Securities Inc. now owns 16,960 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 515 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 36.4% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 2,100 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 13.2% in the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 6,878 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $148,000 after buying an additional 804 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 184.5% during the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 1,508 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 978 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of silver and gold. The company operates producing mines in Mexico and the United States and sells silver bullion and related products through its in-house First Mint division.

First Majestic’s Mexican operations include the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine in Durango, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine in Sonora, and the La Encantada Silver Mine in Coahuila. The company also owns the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine in Nevada, although operations there have been suspended while First Majestic evaluates its future.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, First Majestic has historically concentrated its growth strategy on acquiring and developing precious-metals assets in the Americas.