Investors Buy Large Volume of Call Options on First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) saw some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 28,073 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 75% compared to the typical volume of 16,065 call options.

First Majestic Silver Trading Down 5.4 %

NYSE AG opened at $7.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.18, a current ratio of 2.57 and a quick ratio of 2.04. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $5.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.41. The company has a market capitalization of $2.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -15.54 and a beta of 1.43. First Majestic Silver has a 12 month low of $4.17 and a 12 month high of $8.44.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The mining company reported ($0.03) EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $136.95 million for the quarter. First Majestic Silver had a negative net margin of 23.55% and a negative return on equity of 1.85%. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.07) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post -0.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.0048 per share. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently -4.17%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on AG shares. StockNews.com raised shares of First Majestic Silver to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. HC Wainwright decreased their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.00 to $6.75 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 19th.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 105,048.6% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 47,055,036 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $392,439,000 after purchasing an additional 47,010,285 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 30,341,845 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $186,600,000 after purchasing an additional 709,879 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 10,265,051 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $63,130,000 after purchasing an additional 479,948 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,985,680 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $43,071,000 after purchasing an additional 266,864 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 17.0% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,820,270 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $17,345,000 after purchasing an additional 409,050 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties with a focus on silver and gold production in North America. Its projects include the San Dimas mine covering an area of approximately 71,867 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico; the Santa Elena that covers an area of approximately 102,244 hectares located in Sonora State, México; and the La Encantada covering an area of approximately 4,076 hectares located in Coahuila State, México.