Investors Purchase Large Volume of Pan American Silver Call Options (NYSE:PAAS)

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders acquired 18,023 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 37% compared to the average daily volume of 13,197 call options.

Pan American Silver Stock Down 10.0%

Shares of NYSE PAAS opened at $35.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $14.96 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 3.05, a quick ratio of 2.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. Pan American Silver has a 1 year low of $19.80 and a 1 year high of $42.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $36.11 and its 200-day moving average is $30.17.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The basic materials company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.40 by $0.03. Pan American Silver had a net margin of 16.80% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The company had revenue of $811.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $782.12 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Pan American Silver will post 1.26 EPS for the current year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This is a positive change from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.10. Pan American Silver’s payout ratio is 33.10%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on PAAS. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $36.50 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, September 5th. CIBC raised their price objective on shares of Pan American Silver from $50.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperformer” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday. Zacks Research cut shares of Pan American Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 19th. Finally, National Bankshares restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a research report on Friday, September 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Pan American Silver currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,146,213 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $365,397,000 after acquiring an additional 138,028 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 15.5% during the 2nd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,425,601 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $296,087,000 after acquiring an additional 1,396,360 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 49.5% during the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,016,262 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $256,062,000 after acquiring an additional 2,986,434 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 5,674.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,141,108 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $174,406,000 after acquiring an additional 6,034,755 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in Pan American Silver during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $155,281,000. Institutional investors own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

About Pan American Silver

Pan American Silver Corp. engages in the exploration, mine development, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The company was formerly known as Pan American Minerals Corp. and changed its name to Pan American Silver Corp.