First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) Stock Price Up 8.5% – Here’s Why

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) shares rose 8.5% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $17.22 and last traded at $17.1440. Approximately 4,298,687 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 18,977,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $15.80.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AG. Zacks Research downgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 31st. Weiss Ratings cut shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of First Majestic Silver from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of First Majestic Silver from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 24th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded First Majestic Silver to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $25.25.

First Majestic Silver Stock Up 9.5%

The company has a current ratio of 2.73, a quick ratio of 2.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.08. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $19.01 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.92. The company has a market cap of $8.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.93 and a beta of 0.91.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The mining company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $476.67 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $522.00 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 19.51% and a return on equity of 11.19%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 95.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.05 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.74 EPS for the current year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 29th. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 20th were given a $0.0171 dividend. This represents a $0.07 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 20th. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. First Majestic Silver’s payout ratio is currently 11.67%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On First Majestic Silver

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of AG. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its position in First Majestic Silver by 14.0% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 21,014,859 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $258,273,000 after purchasing an additional 2,581,023 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 18,995,222 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $316,914,000 after purchasing an additional 945,067 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 18,932,368 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $232,539,000 after purchasing an additional 5,265,612 shares during the period. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 408.1% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 15,041,912 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $250,821,000 after buying an additional 12,081,688 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 33.6% in the 4th quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 9,621,720 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $160,298,000 after buying an additional 2,418,513 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

First Majestic Silver Company Profile

First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) engages in the production of silver from its wholly owned operations in Mexico. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, the company focuses on acquiring, developing and operating high-grade silver projects. Established in 2002, First Majestic has built a multi-mine portfolio to supply silver primarily for the global industrial and investment markets while generating by-products such as gold, lead and zinc concentrates.

First Majestic’s principal operations are located in the historic Mexican Silver Belt, with producing mines including La Encantada in Coahuila, Santa Elena in Sonora and La Parrilla in Durango.