First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $23.8333.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on AG shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 25th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 31st. ATB Cormark Capital Markets upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Scotiabank cut their price target on First Majestic Silver from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AG. Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 14.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,014,859 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $258,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581,023 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $316,914,000 after acquiring an additional 945,067 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 408.1% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,041,912 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $250,821,000 after acquiring an additional 12,081,688 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in First Majestic Silver by 33.6% in the fourth quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,621,720 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $160,298,000 after buying an additional 2,418,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 92.3% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 6,082,824 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $130,659,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919,008 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

AG stock opened at $20.86 on Thursday. First Majestic Silver has a twelve month low of $8.39 and a twelve month high of $32.03. The firm has a market cap of $10.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.38 and a beta of 0.94. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $17.27 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $20.35. The company has a quick ratio of 2.38, a current ratio of 2.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 21.18% and a return on equity of 13.36%. The company had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $496.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that First Majestic Silver will post 0.81 earnings per share for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.0152 per share. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.45%.

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.