Sprott (NYSE:SII) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Sprott Inc. (NYSE:SII) shares gapped down prior to trading on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $122.27, but opened at $116.17. Sprott shares last traded at $118.6690, with a volume of 14,930 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SII. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on Sprott from $218.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Sprott from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. TD Securities reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Sprott in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Sprott in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Two 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $230.00.

Sprott Stock Down 3.7%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.00 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $127.57. The stock has a market cap of $2.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.78 and a beta of 0.76.

Sprott (NYSE:SII) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The company reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $78.06 million.

Sprott Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, June 3rd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 19th were given a $0.40 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 19th. This represents a $1.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.4%. Sprott’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 48.93%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sprott

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Sprott by 29.1% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 109,878 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,930,000 after purchasing an additional 24,763 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in Sprott by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 59,917 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,688,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. acquired a new stake in Sprott during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,948,000. Sei Investments Co. bought a new position in Sprott during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $203,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position 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 worth $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. 28.30% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.