First Majestic Silver Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 52,915 call options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 50% compared to the typical volume of 35,251 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

AG has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. HC Wainwright restated a “buy” rating and issued a $12.75 price target on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Friday, August 15th. National Bank Financial upgraded First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on First Majestic Silver from $6.00 to $6.50 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $9.63.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AG. Municipal Employees Retirement System of Michigan bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the first quarter worth $47,656,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the first quarter worth $46,070,000. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 74.2% in the second quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 13,666,756 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $112,880,000 after purchasing an additional 5,821,751 shares in the last quarter. Sprott Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 603.8% in the first quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 4,612,904 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $30,856,000 after purchasing an additional 3,957,459 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 26.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,475,305 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $96,768,000 after purchasing an additional 3,051,614 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AG opened at $10.38 on Wednesday. First Majestic Silver has a 1-year low of $5.09 and a 1-year high of $10.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08, a current ratio of 3.27 and a quick ratio of 2.84. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $8.91 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $7.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.06 billion, a PE ratio of -1,036.96 and a beta of 0.78.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The mining company reported $0.04 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.06 by ($0.02). First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 1.72% and a net margin of 1.78%.The company had revenue of $264.20 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $387.25 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($0.07) earnings per share. First Majestic Silver’s quarterly revenue was up 94.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.54 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 29th were given a $0.0048 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 29th. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -200.00%.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of mineral properties with a focus on silver and gold production in North America. Its projects include the San Dimas mine covering an area of approximately 71,867 hectares located in Durango State, Mexico; the Santa Elena that covers an area of approximately 102,244 hectares located in Sonora State, México; and the La Encantada covering an area of approximately 4,076 hectares located in Coahuila State, México.