First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Lowered to “Hold” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on AG. Scotiabank raised shares of First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. HC Wainwright raised their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.75 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Zacks Research cut shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, First Majestic Silver has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $25.25.

First Majestic Silver Trading Down 9.8%

NYSE:AG opened at $20.43 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $21.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $19.60. First Majestic Silver has a 12 month low of $5.49 and a 12 month high of $32.03. The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock has a market cap of $10.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.05 and a beta of 0.85.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The mining company reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 11.19% and a net margin of 19.51%.The company had revenue of $476.67 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $522.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.05 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that First Majestic Silver will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th will be given a dividend of $0.0171 per share. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 20th. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is 5.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of AG. Sprott Inc. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 51.8% in the third quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 2,036,679 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $24,974,000 after buying an additional 695,391 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in First Majestic Silver in the third quarter worth about $55,071,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 4.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,050,155 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $221,657,000 after buying an additional 739,315 shares during the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 120.8% in the third quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 51,200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 108.7% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,203,207 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $88,527,000 after buying an additional 3,751,376 shares during the last quarter. 27.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

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.