First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Upgraded at National Bank Financial

National Bank Financial upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Sunday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on AG. Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. National Bankshares set a $22.00 price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Finally, HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.75 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $14.17.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG stock opened at $12.69 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 2.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $9.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $8.07. The company has a market cap of $6.22 billion, a P/E ratio of -1,267.23 and a beta of 0.76. First Majestic Silver has a 12 month low of $5.09 and a 12 month high of $13.55.

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

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 29th were paid a $0.0048 dividend. This represents a $0.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -200.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 1,221.6% during the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 3,793 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 3,506 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the 1st quarter worth $29,000. CWM LLC increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 57.2% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 5,114 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 1,860 shares during the period. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise purchased a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the 1st quarter worth $46,000. Finally, American National Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in First Majestic Silver during the 2nd quarter worth $66,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

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.