First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and two have issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $25.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on AG shares. Cormark upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Zacks Research raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $55,071,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. increased its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 120.8% during the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,150,000 after acquiring an additional 51,200 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC raised its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,216.2% during the 2nd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 340,695 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,818,000 after purchasing an additional 314,811 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 108.7% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,203,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,751,376 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caprock Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,045,000. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Majestic Silver Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:AG opened at $29.35 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $21.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $15.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The company has a market cap of $14.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 83.85 and a beta of 0.85. First Majestic Silver has a 1 year low of $5.09 and a 1 year high of $30.15.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $463.92 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be given a dividend of $0.0083 per share. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.1%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is 5.71%.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.