Short Interest in Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) Rises By 43.1%

Pan American Silver Corp. (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,940,000 shares, a growth of 43.1% from the February 28th total of 5,550,000 shares. Approximately 2.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 3,050,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on PAAS. Scotiabank raised their target price on Pan American Silver from $28.00 to $28.50 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Pan American Silver from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. TD Securities lowered shares of Pan American Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $27.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Pan American Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, December 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $27.92.

Pan American Silver Trading Down 1.8 %

PAAS traded down $0.49 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $25.95. 5,038,379 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,867,526. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $24.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $22.87. Pan American Silver has a 1-year low of $15.10 and a 1-year high of $27.47. The company has a market cap of $9.40 billion, a PE ratio of 81.11 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a current ratio of 2.50, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.35. The business had revenue of $815.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $805.20 million. Pan American Silver had a net margin of 3.98% and a return on equity of 6.14%. Equities analysts forecast that Pan American Silver will post 1.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were paid a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.54%. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.00%.

Institutional Trading of Pan American Silver

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Pan American Silver by 6.0% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 7,924 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $160,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 6,139 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $124,000 after buying an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 23.4% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 2,892 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $58,000 after buying an additional 549 shares during the period. Principal Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Pan American Silver by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 5,977 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Pan American Silver by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 30,203 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $611,000 after acquiring an additional 715 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

Pan American Silver Company Profile

Pan American Silver Corp. engages in the exploration, mine development, extraction, processing, refining, and reclamation of silver, gold, zinc, lead, and copper mines in Canada, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil. The company was formerly known as Pan American Minerals Corp. and changed its name to Pan American Silver Corp.