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

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock investors acquired 58,676 put options on the stock. This is an increase of 43% compared to the average volume of 41,176 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $316,914,000 after buying an additional 945,067 shares during the period. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co increased its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 50.5% in the fourth quarter. PKO Investment Management Joint Stock Co now owns 238,500 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,986,000 after acquiring an additional 80,000 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP acquired a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver in the fourth quarter worth $45,898,000. Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the first quarter worth $2,593,000. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 127.6% during the first quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 182,238 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $3,905,000 after acquiring an additional 102,167 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on AG. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, July 25th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $23.00 to $22.50 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, ATB Cormark Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $23.83.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

AG traded up $0.37 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $18.77. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,269,364 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,782,936. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $17.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $20.65. The company has a current ratio of 2.57, a quick ratio of 2.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.25 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49 and a beta of 0.94. First Majestic Silver has a fifty-two week low of $8.28 and a fifty-two week high of $32.03.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.25 by ($0.04). First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 13.36% and a net margin of 21.18%.The business had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.00 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 57.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.81 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.0152 per share. This represents a $0.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 14th. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is currently 8.45%.

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.