First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Trading Down 13.1% – Time to Sell?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) shares traded down 13.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $17.31 and last traded at $17.1750. 10,000,452 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average session volume of 20,332,713 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.77.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Zacks Research lowered First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. HC Wainwright upped their target price on First Majestic Silver to $30.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Scotiabank raised First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 23rd. Weiss Ratings raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Majestic Silver presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.25.

First Majestic Silver Stock Down 14.6%

The company has a quick ratio of 2.54, a current ratio of 2.73 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.78 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $20.43. The stock has a market cap of $8.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.24 and a beta of 0.86.

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

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AG. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 77.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 604,186 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,042,000 after acquiring an additional 263,688 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 355.7% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,193,589 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $7,985,000 after purchasing an additional 931,690 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 12.4% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 240,083 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after purchasing an additional 26,553 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 25.3% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,837 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 12.8% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 25,940 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 2,936 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

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.