Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Takes Position in Pan American Silver Corp. $PAAS

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 11,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock, valued at approximately $604,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of PAAS. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Pan American Silver by 176.9% in the 3rd quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC now owns 114,780 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $4,445,000 after purchasing an additional 73,326 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG raised its stake in Pan American Silver by 117.9% during the 3rd quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 43,946 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 23,780 shares during the period. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 214.3% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 121,633 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $4,711,000 after purchasing an additional 82,932 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 363.2% in the third quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC now owns 151,801 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $5,879,000 after purchasing an additional 119,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 3.1% in the third quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 2,155,252 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $83,473,000 after buying an additional 65,592 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

Pan American Silver Trading Up 1.6%

NYSE:PAAS opened at $55.49 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.20, a P/E/G ratio of 0.45 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $58.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.97 and a current ratio of 2.69. Pan American Silver Corp. has a 52 week low of $20.55 and a 52 week high of $69.99.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The basic materials company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.21. Pan American Silver had a net margin of 27.07% and a return on equity of 16.38%. The firm had revenue of $1.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.35 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 44.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Pan American Silver Corp. will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 13th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were issued a $0.18 dividend. This is a boost from Pan American Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.14. This represents a $0.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio is currently 28.80%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on PAAS. Scotiabank upped their price target on Pan American Silver from $47.00 to $64.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on Pan American Silver from $58.00 to $54.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce set a $88.00 target price on Pan American Silver and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 4th. Zacks Research upgraded Pan American Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Pan American Silver in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $56.60.

Pan American Silver Profile

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE: PAAS) is a Vancouver-based mining company and one of the world’s largest primary silver producers. The company’s core activities encompass the exploration, development, extraction and processing of silver, with significant by-product production of gold, zinc and lead. Pan American Silver maintains a vertically integrated operating model, covering the full mining value chain from resource discovery through to refined metal production.

With a geographic footprint concentrated across the Americas, Pan American Silver operates multiple mines in Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia, and is advancing several development and exploration projects in Chile and Ecuador.