First Majestic Silver Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the target of some unusual options trading on Friday. Investors purchased 131,644 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 70% compared to the average volume of 77,249 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in First Majestic Silver by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,225,807 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $531,234,000 after buying an additional 10,471,543 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 14.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,014,859 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $258,273,000 after acquiring an additional 2,581,023 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $316,914,000 after acquiring an additional 945,067 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 38.5% during the third quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,932,368 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $232,539,000 after purchasing an additional 5,265,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lingotto Investment Management LLP lifted its position in First Majestic Silver by 2.2% during the second quarter. Lingotto Investment Management LLP now owns 9,964,096 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $82,403,000 after purchasing an additional 213,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on AG shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. National Bankshares set a $22.00 price target on shares of First Majestic Silver and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. National Bank Financial upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, November 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, First Majestic Silver currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $23.17.

First Majestic Silver Trading Down 17.3%

Shares of First Majestic Silver stock opened at $20.82 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.10 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $13.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 148.71 and a beta of 0.77. First Majestic Silver has a 12-month low of $5.09 and a 12-month high of $27.90. The company has a current ratio of 3.38, a quick ratio of 2.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

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

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

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

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.