Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $232.1818.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on AEM shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $189.00 price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a report on Sunday, December 7th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $296.00 target price on Agnico Eagle Mines and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $225.00 price target on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research note on Wednesday, January 14th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $280.00 price objective on shares of Agnico Eagle Mines in a research report on Tuesday, February 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Monday, January 12th.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

AEM opened at $208.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $104.48 billion, a PE ratio of 23.48 and a beta of 0.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $212.43 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.97. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 1 year low of $94.77 and a 1 year high of $255.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a current ratio of 2.02 and a quick ratio of 1.33.

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

Agnico Eagle Mines Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.45 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This is a positive change from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.9%. Agnico Eagle Mines’s dividend payout ratio is presently 20.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Agnico Eagle Mines

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AEM. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Agnico Eagle Mines by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $252,000 after buying an additional 331 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 36.4% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 19,829 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 5,293 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $379,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 134 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its position in Agnico Eagle Mines by 1.7% during the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 14,913 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,774,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.