First Majestic Silver Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:AG)

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Investors acquired 63,413 call options on the company. This is an increase of 87% compared to the typical daily volume of 33,960 call options.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in AG. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in First Majestic Silver in the third quarter valued at about $363,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 27,704 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $490,000 after buying an additional 1,859 shares during the period. Crescent Grove Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver during the third quarter worth about $2,120,000. Integrated Advisors Network LLC grew its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 40.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Advisors Network LLC now owns 55,116 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $975,000 after buying an additional 15,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 48.1% during the third quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 74,689 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,314,000 after buying an additional 24,267 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on AG. Zacks Research cut First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on 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 reduced their target price on shares of First Majestic Silver from $27.00 to $25.50 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 9th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Wednesday, September 2nd. 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. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $24.00.

First Majestic Silver Trading Up 3.9%

NYSE:AG traded up $0.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $15.44. The company had a trading volume of 4,999,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,590,987. The company has a 50-day moving average of $18.74 and a 200 day moving average of $20.10. 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 company has a market cap of $7.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.77 and a beta of 0.97. First Majestic Silver has a 1 year low of $10.19 and a 1 year high of $32.03.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The mining company reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm had revenue of $415.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $496.00 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.11 earnings per share. First Majestic Silver’s revenue for the quarter was up 57.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.80 earnings per share for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, August 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th were paid a $0.0152 dividend. This is a negative change from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.0171. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 14th. This represents a $0.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.4%. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.45%.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. is a mining company focused on the exploration, development, and production of silver and gold. The company operates producing mines in Mexico and the United States and sells silver bullion and related products through its in-house First Mint division.

First Majestic’s Mexican operations include the San Dimas Silver/Gold Mine in Durango, the Santa Elena Silver/Gold Mine in Sonora, and the La Encantada Silver Mine in Coahuila. The company also owns the Jerritt Canyon Gold Mine in Nevada, although operations there have been suspended while First Majestic evaluates its future.

Founded in 2002 and headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, First Majestic has historically concentrated its growth strategy on acquiring and developing precious-metals assets in the Americas.