Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in First Majestic Silver Corp. $AG

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) by 26.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,475,305 shares of the mining company’s stock after buying an additional 3,051,614 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 2.99% of First Majestic Silver worth $96,768,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 135.2% in the 4th quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,596,866 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $74,647,000 after purchasing an additional 7,816,177 shares in the last quarter. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan purchased a new position in First Majestic Silver in the 1st quarter worth approximately $47,656,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in First Majestic Silver in the 1st quarter worth approximately $46,070,000. TD Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 197.2% in the 1st quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 2,492,865 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $16,662,000 after purchasing an additional 1,654,011 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 4,455,923 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $24,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,420,937 shares in the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. HC Wainwright reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $12.75 target price on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Finally, National Bank Financial raised shares of First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.63.

First Majestic Silver Price Performance

Shares of AG opened at $8.9860 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -897.70 and a beta of 0.72. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $4.59 and a fifty-two week high of $9.48. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $8.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $7.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 2.74 and a current ratio of 3.27.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The mining company reported $0.04 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $264.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $387.25 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 1.72% and a net margin of 1.78%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 94.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.07) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Investors of record on Friday, August 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.0048 per share. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 29th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is currently -200.00%.

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.