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

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Friday. Stock traders purchased 37,754 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 49% compared to the typical volume of 25,365 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 26.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,475,305 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $96,768,000 after buying an additional 3,051,614 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 135.2% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,596,866 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $74,647,000 after buying an additional 7,816,177 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 11.7% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,845,005 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $52,436,000 after purchasing an additional 820,664 shares during the period. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan purchased a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the first quarter valued at $47,656,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in First Majestic Silver in the first quarter worth about $46,070,000. 27.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

First Majestic Silver Trading Up 7.3%

AG opened at $9.27 on Friday. First Majestic Silver has a twelve month low of $4.43 and a twelve month high of $9.33. The company has a quick ratio of 2.74, a current ratio of 3.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $7.31 and a 200-day moving average of $6.44. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a PE ratio of -31.96 and a beta of 0.82.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The mining company reported $0.05 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.06 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $241.12 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $358.65 million. First Majestic Silver had a negative return on equity of 0.14% and a negative net margin of 12.32%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.0045 dividend. This represents a dividend yield of 0.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is -6.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HC Wainwright upped their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $11.50 to $12.75 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. National Bank Financial raised shares of First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, National Bankshares reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $9.63.

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.