Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) Cut to Hold at Zacks Research

Zacks Research lowered shares of Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also commented on AEM. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on Agnico Eagle Mines from $248.00 to $235.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada downgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $185.00 to $205.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 10th. Erste Group Bank lowered Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Weiss Ratings downgraded Agnico Eagle Mines from a “buy (a-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their price target on Agnico Eagle Mines from $241.00 to $251.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 3rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $232.18.

Agnico Eagle Mines Price Performance

Agnico Eagle Mines stock opened at $209.94 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $212.65 and a 200-day moving average of $185.43. Agnico Eagle Mines has a 52-week low of $94.77 and a 52-week high of $255.24. The company has a quick ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 2.02 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64 and a beta of 0.71.

Agnico Eagle Mines (NYSE:AEM) (TSE:AEM) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The mining company reported $2.69 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.56 by $0.13. Agnico Eagle Mines had a net margin of 37.47% and a return on equity of 18.09%. The business had revenue of $3.53 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.40 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.26 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 60.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict 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 given a $0.45 dividend. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. This is an increase from Agnico Eagle Mines’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. Agnico Eagle Mines’s dividend payout ratio is currently 20.27%.

Institutional Trading of Agnico Eagle Mines

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Salvus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,301 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $1,068,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Brookwood Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Agnico Eagle Mines by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Brookwood Investment Group LLC now owns 1,361 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $231,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,879 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 5,266 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $893,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Agnico Eagle Mines by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC now owns 3,781 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $637,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. 68.34% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.