Royce & Associates LP Sells 40,770 Shares of Sprott Inc. $SII

Royce & Associates LP reduced its position in Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 623,344 shares of the company’s stock after selling 40,770 shares during the period. Sprott accounts for about 0.6% of Royce & Associates LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Royce & Associates LP owned approximately 2.42% of Sprott worth $61,056,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SII. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in shares of Sprott by 29.1% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,930,000 after buying an additional 24,763 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sprott by 7.8% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 59,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after buying an additional 4,326 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sprott in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,948,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new stake in shares of Sprott in the 2nd quarter valued at about $203,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its holdings in shares of Sprott by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 15,351 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,056,000 after buying an additional 225 shares in the last quarter. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sprott Trading Up 0.1%

SII opened at $125.00 on Tuesday. Sprott Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.20 and a 12-month high of $169.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.22 billion, a PE ratio of 38.22 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $137.98 and a two-hundred day moving average of $122.21.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.20. Sprott had a net margin of 21.99% and a return on equity of 23.54%. The company had revenue of $80.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.06 million.

Sprott Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SII has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. TD Securities reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Sprott from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $230.00.

Sprott Profile

Sprott Inc is a Toronto‐based alternative asset manager specializing in precious metals, real assets and related investment vehicles. Founded in 1981 by Eric Sprott, the firm has built a reputation for offering physically backed bullion trusts, exchange‐traded funds (ETFs), mutual funds and private managed accounts that provide exposure to gold, silver, platinum and other hard assets. Sprott’s product lineup also includes royalty and streaming strategies, which grant investors long‐term participation in mining project cash flows without direct operational risk.

In addition to its flagship physical bullion trusts, Sprott offers actively managed equity portfolios that focus on companies engaged in the exploration, development and production of precious metals.