A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Upgraded to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Thursday morning.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AMRK. B. Riley reduced their target price on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $41.00 to $33.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. DA Davidson boosted their price target on A-Mark Precious Metals from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th.

A-Mark Precious Metals Trading Up 0.3 %

AMRK opened at $36.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51. A-Mark Precious Metals has a 52 week low of $23.14 and a 52 week high of $42.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.84. The firm has a market cap of $842.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.18 and a beta of 0.02.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.23 by ($0.33). A-Mark Precious Metals had a return on equity of 26.90% and a net margin of 1.10%. The business had revenue of $2.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.25 billion. On average, research analysts predict that A-Mark Precious Metals will post 4.33 EPS for the current year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 16th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 15th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 17.74%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 22,383 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.06, for a total transaction of $583,300.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 453,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,812,554.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Michael R. Wittmeyer sold 22,383 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.06, for a total transaction of $583,300.98. Following the transaction, the director now owns 453,283 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,812,554.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Gregory N. Roberts sold 8,696 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.30, for a total value of $220,008.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 28,202 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $713,510.60. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 53,637 shares of company stock valued at $1,396,360 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 23.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of A-Mark Precious Metals

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,684,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $49,413,000 after acquiring an additional 150,343 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. boosted its position in A-Mark Precious Metals by 2.3% during the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 1,383,817 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,803,000 after purchasing an additional 30,514 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,129,775 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,178,000 after purchasing an additional 106,842 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 1,032,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $30,296,000 after buying an additional 6,184 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 41.1% during the 2nd quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 541,611 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,275,000 after buying an additional 157,750 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 75.25% of the company’s stock.

About A-Mark Precious Metals

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins.