Sprott (NYSE:SII) Trading Down 4.6% – What’s Next?

Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) shares were down 4.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $139.26 and last traded at $138.4270. Approximately 108,274 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 55% from the average daily volume of 243,066 shares. The stock had previously closed at $145.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on SII. Royal Bank Of Canada raised Sprott from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. TD Securities reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Sprott in a report on Monday, December 29th. 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, Sprott presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $132.00.

Sprott Stock Down 1.8%

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $144.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $114.70. The company has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 49.86 and a beta of 0.98.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 19th. The company reported $1.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $61.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $69.12 million. Sprott had a return on equity of 19.47% and a net margin of 23.62%.

Sprott Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.40 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.2%. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprott

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SII. Sprott Inc. grew its holdings in Sprott by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Sprott Inc. now owns 1,661,137 shares of the company’s stock valued at $162,659,000 after buying an additional 15,555 shares in the last quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Sprott by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,515,002 shares of the company’s stock worth $148,349,000 after acquiring an additional 245,173 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Sprott by 88.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 991,339 shares of the company’s stock valued at $97,101,000 after purchasing an additional 464,177 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Sprott by 99.6% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 739,700 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,466,000 after acquiring an additional 369,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Sprott by 45.9% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 713,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $69,872,000 after purchasing an additional 224,490 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

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.