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

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Pan American Silver Stock Performance

NYSE PAAS traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $25.83. 3,689,523 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,866,825. The company has a market capitalization of $9.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 80.72 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a current ratio of 2.50. The business’s 50 day moving average is $24.53 and its 200-day moving average is $22.91. Pan American Silver has a 1 year low of $15.10 and a 1 year high of $27.47.

Pan American Silver (NYSE:PAAS) (TSE:PAAS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The basic materials company reported $0.35 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35. The firm had revenue of $815.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $805.20 million. Pan American Silver had a return on equity of 6.14% and a net margin of 3.98%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Pan American Silver will post 1.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Pan American Silver Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.10 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.55%. Pan American Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 125.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Pan American Silver

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 14,008,185 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $283,385,000 after purchasing an additional 221,561 shares during the period. FIL Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Pan American Silver by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. FIL Ltd now owns 13,388,644 shares of the basic materials company’s stock valued at $270,848,000 after acquiring an additional 584,017 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Pan American Silver in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $91,916,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Pan American Silver by 18.3% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,146,182 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $63,658,000 after acquiring an additional 486,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Pan American Silver by 32.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,027,461 shares of the basic materials company’s stock worth $40,776,000 after purchasing an additional 494,133 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 55.43% of the company’s stock.

About Pan American Silver

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.