First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $25.00.

AG has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted 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 report on Monday, January 26th. Wall Street Zen cut First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 18th. HC Wainwright lifted their price target on First Majestic Silver to $30.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 31st.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG stock opened at $20.24 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $23.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.81. The company has a market cap of $9.98 billion, a PE ratio of 57.84 and a beta of 0.97. The company has a current ratio of 2.60, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. First Majestic Silver has a 12-month low of $5.49 and a 12-month high of $32.03.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $463.92 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a return on equity of 7.25% and a net margin of 13.12%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 169.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Analysts expect that First Majestic Silver will post 0.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th were paid a dividend of $0.0083 per share. This represents a $0.03 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 8.57%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in First Majestic Silver by 408.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,041,912 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $250,821,000 after acquiring an additional 12,081,688 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 32.0% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 43,225,807 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $531,234,000 after acquiring an additional 10,471,543 shares during the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,932,368 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $232,539,000 after acquiring an additional 5,265,612 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,071,000. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 108.7% during the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,203,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,527,000 after acquiring an additional 3,751,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

About First Majestic Silver

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.