First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $22.17, but opened at $20.50. First Majestic Silver shares last traded at $21.5290, with a volume of 2,675,805 shares traded.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. HC Wainwright boosted their price target on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Zacks Research cut shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, First Majestic Silver currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

First Majestic Silver Stock Down 0.8%

The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $23.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.79. The company has a quick ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 3.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The company has a market cap of $10.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 62.98 and a beta of 0.97.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The business had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $561.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 169.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.0083 per share. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is presently 8.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in First Majestic Silver by 77.4% during the 1st 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. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 355.7% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 1,193,589 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $7,985,000 after purchasing an additional 931,690 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 12.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 240,083 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,994,000 after buying an additional 26,553 shares during the period. Creative Planning lifted its stake in First Majestic Silver by 25.3% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 28,837 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $238,000 after acquiring an additional 5,828 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 22.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 769,422 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $6,355,000 after acquiring an additional 138,624 shares in the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.