Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports.

AEM has been the subject of a number of other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Agnico Eagle Mines from $248.00 to $235.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines from $198.00 to $256.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $189.00 target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Sunday, December 7th. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 target price on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $234.91.

Agnico Eagle Mines Stock Performance

Shares of Agnico Eagle Mines stock opened at $183.25 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.02, a quick ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $213.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $183.85. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 1-year low of $94.77 and a 1-year high of $255.24. The company has a market cap of $91.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64 and a beta of 0.61.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a return on equity of 18.09% and a net margin of 37.47%.The company had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.40 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 60.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Agnico Eagle Mines will post 4.63 EPS for the current year.

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. This is a boost from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Agnico Eagle Mines’s payout ratio is 20.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $252,000 after purchasing an additional 331 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 36.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,829 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,150,000 after buying an additional 5,293 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 57.2% in the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,188 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 1,160 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 8.0% in the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 41,875 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $4,980,000 after buying an additional 3,094 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 8.0% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,810 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 68.34% of the company’s stock.

About Agnico Eagle Mines

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE: AEM) is a Canadian-based senior gold producer headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. The company is principally engaged in the exploration, development, production and reclamation of gold-bearing properties. Agnico Eagle pursues both greenfield and brownfield exploration to expand its resource base and operates a portfolio of producing mines and development projects to generate long-life gold production.

Its core business activities span the full mining lifecycle: grassroots and advanced-stage exploration, prefeasibility and feasibility studies, mine construction, underground and open-pit mining, ore processing and metal recovery, and post-mining reclamation and closure.