A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) Sees Large Volume Increase – Here’s Why

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMRK) shares saw unusually-high trading volume on Friday . Approximately 237,729 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 6% from the previous session’s volume of 224,700 shares.The stock last traded at $27.75 and had previously closed at $28.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AMRK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Northland Securities reduced their price objective on shares of A-Mark Precious Metals from $40.00 to $36.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. DA Davidson decreased their target price on A-Mark Precious Metals from $52.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded A-Mark Precious Metals from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.75.

A-Mark Precious Metals Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $692.02 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.69 and a beta of -0.02. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.69 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 1.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.51.

A-Mark Precious Metals (NASDAQ:AMRK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The company reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.65 by ($0.10). A-Mark Precious Metals had a return on equity of 10.93% and a net margin of 0.57%. Analysts expect that A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc. will post 3.54 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

A-Mark Precious Metals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, January 28th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 14th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 14th. A-Mark Precious Metals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.04%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On A-Mark Precious Metals

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AMRK. FMR LLC boosted its position in A-Mark Precious Metals by 1,714.4% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,209,801 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,425,000 after purchasing an additional 1,143,125 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in A-Mark Precious Metals by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 431,792 shares of the company’s stock valued at $19,072,000 after acquiring an additional 22,087 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in A-Mark Precious Metals by 38.6% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 368,393 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,094,000 after acquiring an additional 102,524 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 43.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 214,270 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,871,000 after acquiring an additional 65,014 shares during the period. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of A-Mark Precious Metals by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Bard Associates Inc. now owns 94,344 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,585,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares during the last quarter. 75.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About A-Mark Precious Metals

A-Mark Precious Metals, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a precious metals trading company. It operates through three segments: Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services, Direct-to-Consumer, and Secured Lending. The Wholesale Sales & Ancillary Services segment sells gold, silver, platinum, and palladium in the form of bars, plates, powders, wafers, grains, ingots, and coins.