Vanguard Group Inc. Grows Holdings in First Majestic Silver Corp. $AG

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of First Majestic Silver Corp. (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,050,155 shares of the mining company’s stock after acquiring an additional 739,315 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 3.68% of First Majestic Silver worth $221,657,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new position in First Majestic Silver in the third quarter worth $55,071,000. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. lifted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 120.8% in the 3rd quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych Allianz Polska S.A. now owns 93,600 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 51,200 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of First Majestic Silver by 1,216.2% in the 2nd quarter. FORA Capital LLC now owns 340,695 shares of the mining company’s stock worth $2,818,000 after buying an additional 314,811 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of First Majestic Silver by 108.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 7,203,207 shares of the mining company’s stock valued at $88,527,000 after buying an additional 3,751,376 shares during the period. Finally, Caprock Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of First Majestic Silver during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,045,000. Institutional investors own 27.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

AG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of First Majestic Silver in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Zacks Research upgraded First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Cormark raised First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of First Majestic Silver from $12.50 to $23.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Monday, January 26th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of First Majestic Silver from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $25.00.

First Majestic Silver Stock Performance

Shares of AG opened at $32.02 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07, a current ratio of 3.38 and a quick ratio of 2.96. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $21.89 and its 200-day moving average is $15.60. First Majestic Silver Corp. has a 12-month low of $5.09 and a 12-month high of $32.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 91.50 and a beta of 0.75.

First Majestic Silver (NYSE:AG) (TSE:FR) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The mining company reported $0.30 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.27 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $463.92 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $561.30 million. First Majestic Silver had a net margin of 13.12% and a return on equity of 7.41%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 169.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that First Majestic Silver Corp. will post 0.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

First Majestic Silver Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a $0.0083 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $0.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.1%. This is an increase from First Majestic Silver’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.01. First Majestic Silver’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.57%.

About First Majestic Silver

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.