First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research cut shares of First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wall Street Zen raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, HC Wainwright boosted their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, First Majestic Silver has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG stock opened at $21.83 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The business has a 50 day moving average of $23.90 and a two-hundred day moving average of $17.82. First Majestic Silver has a 52 week low of $5.18 and a 52 week high of $32.03. The company has a market cap of $10.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 62.37 and a beta of 0.97.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 7.41% and a net margin of 13.12%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 169.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.03 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 27th were 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 was Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is presently 8.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sprott Inc. raised its position in First Majestic Silver by 51.8% in the third quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 2,036,679 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $24,974,000 after acquiring an additional 695,391 shares in the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,071,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,050,155 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $221,657,000 after purchasing an additional 739,315 shares during the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 120.8% in the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after purchasing an additional 51,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FORA Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,216.2% in 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 in the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.