North Star Investment Management Corp. Sells 5,988 Shares of Sprott Inc. $SII

North Star Investment Management Corp. decreased its position in shares of Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) by 8.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 64,258 shares of the company’s stock after selling 5,988 shares during the quarter. North Star Investment Management Corp.’s holdings in Sprott were worth $9,183,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Picton Mahoney Asset Management raised its stake in shares of Sprott by 45.8% in the third quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 275,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $22,894,000 after purchasing an additional 86,525 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Sprott by 99.6% during the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 739,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,466,000 after buying an additional 369,100 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Sprott by 58.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 71,604 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,011,000 after buying an additional 26,341 shares during the last quarter. Spark Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Sprott in the 3rd quarter worth about $665,000. Finally, Sprott Inc. increased its holdings in Sprott by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 1,645,582 shares of the company’s stock worth $136,896,000 after buying an additional 59,101 shares in the last quarter. 28.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sprott Price Performance

Shares of SII opened at $112.37 on Monday. Sprott Inc. has a one year low of $61.94 and a one year high of $169.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.36 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a fifty day moving average of $128.66 and a 200 day moving average of $127.91.

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

Sprott Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.4%. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio is presently 48.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SII. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Sprott from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, TD Securities restated a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.00.

About Sprott

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.