First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Cut to “Buy” at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research report released on Saturday.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Zacks Research lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 31st. HC Wainwright lifted their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, January 26th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.00.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

NYSE:AG opened at $21.53 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $23.38 and a 200-day moving average of $18.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 61.53 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a quick ratio of 2.41, a current ratio of 2.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. First Majestic Silver has a twelve month low of $5.49 and a twelve month high of $32.03.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $463.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.25%. First Majestic Silver’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver will post 0.7 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th were given a $0.0083 dividend. This represents a $0.03 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 27th. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is 8.57%.

Institutional Trading of First Majestic Silver

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wealthspire Retirement LLC grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Wealthspire Retirement LLC now owns 32,450 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the period. Harbour Investments Inc. grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 24,656 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $411,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 24,999 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $416,000 after purchasing an additional 718 shares during the period. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 6,878 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $148,000 after purchasing an additional 804 shares during the period. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its position in First Majestic Silver by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 35,295 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $434,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

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.