First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Trading Down 6% – Here’s Why

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) shares fell 6% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $15.69 and last traded at $15.6660. 11,014,331 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 43% from the average session volume of 19,287,430 shares. The stock had previously closed at $16.66.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on AG shares. Cormark raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. National Bank Financial raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. TD Securities upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, HC Wainwright set a $17.50 price target on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Friday, October 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.33.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The company has a market cap of $7.77 billion, a PE ratio of 112.69 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $14.17 and a 200 day moving average of $11.37.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The mining company reported $0.07 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.11 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $285.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $429.78 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 3.14% and a net margin of 7.07%.The firm’s revenue was up 95.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.09) earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th were issued a dividend of $0.0052 per share. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.00. This represents a $0.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 14th. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is presently 14.29%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 29.2% in the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 112,189 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 25,344 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 3.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 461,384 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $3,087,000 after acquiring an additional 16,513 shares during the period. AlphaQuest LLC purchased a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the first quarter valued at about $29,000. Vident Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the first quarter worth about $82,000. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 77.4% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 604,186 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $4,042,000 after purchasing an additional 263,688 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

About First Majestic Silver

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.