Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV Sells 10,000 Shares of Sprott Inc. $SII

Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lowered its position in shares of Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) by 43.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,000 shares of the company’s stock after selling 10,000 shares during the quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV owned 0.05% of Sprott worth $1,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SII. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Sprott during the third quarter worth $711,000. Picton Mahoney Asset Management grew its stake in Sprott by 45.8% in the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 275,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $22,894,000 after purchasing an additional 86,525 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Sprott by 99.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 369,100 shares during the last quarter. Spark Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sprott during the 3rd quarter worth $665,000. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Sprott by 58.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 71,604 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,011,000 after purchasing an additional 26,341 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 28.30% of the company’s stock.

Sprott Stock Performance

Shares of SII opened at $117.98 on Tuesday. Sprott Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.94 and a 52-week high of $169.63. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $131.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $127.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.08 and a beta of 0.76.

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 business had revenue of $80.75 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $78.06 million.

Sprott Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SII has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target 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. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sprott has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.